Out of Time
by wafische
Summary: Danny's family is forced to leave Amity Park as a state of emergency is issued. Revised Edition. Please R&R.
1. End of The Order

The white pawn was moved across the board and placed down on the black square. Jack eyed the board suspiciously as Vlad finished his move. Being in Amity Park taking care of business, Vlad had called up Jack and had arranged this little meeting to take place at Jack's. Danny and Jazz were at school, and Maddie was out shopping. Jack nervously moved his queen back.

"Been a long time, hasn't it Vladdie?" Jack commented.

"Indeed," Vlad took the last of Jack's knights, "Why, we haven't seen each other since the college reunion went awry!"

"Speaking of which, you're not still upset over that, are you?"

"What? Me? Of course not! I've learned to forgive over the years, Jack," he smiled, but the smile had a hint of wickedness in it.

"That's good to here! Check," Vlad looked down on the board. Sure enough...

"How is young Daniel doing?" Vlad asked, changing the subject.

"Fine," Jack watched as Vlad moved safetly out of range from his bishop, "The second big dance of the school year's coming up. This has provided a way for Jasmine and me to finally interact!"

"Oh?"

"Yep! Fifteen dollars from her says he'll ask his friend Samantha to the dance!" Vlad looked over at the TV, which they had left on.

"Well, well, well," he smirked, "I see that Paranormalics has delivered another blow to The Order," Jack frowned. After the Amity incident, the ghosts that had been taken prisoner had been interrogated and told everything about The Order. The activities of Paranormalics against the ghost terrorists had been making up the bulk of the anti-ghost news, which had gotten quite a bit of publicity lately.

"Those fools don't know the first thing about ghost-hunting!" Jack mumbled to himself.

"It makes you wonder."

"Wonder what?" Vlad turned back to Jack with a strange look on his face.

"Oh, I forgot you're a family man!" he laughed nervously, "Maybe we should just forget about it."

"No, really, what're you thinking?"

"Well," Vlad sighed, "Suppose...suppose someone in your family was a ghost, Danny for instance," Jack just stared at Vlad for a moment before breaking out into hysterical laughter.

"If there was a ghost in this household, I'd know about it!"

"Yes, but say that he was a ghost. Now your profession is hunting ghosts, and judging by the superstitious views of many," he nodded over to the TV, "I can't see him fitting in that well if anyone found out. If you found out, wouldn't you be afraid?"

"Afraid of what?"

"That they would come for him," Vlad moved his queen into position, Jack's eyes fixed to his, "Take him away forever. And you need to ask yourself; when that time came, which would you carry out? Your parental duties, or your profession?"

"Yes..." Jack looked over at the TV, "Good question."

"Checkmate," Vlad declared. Jack didn't even look down at the board.

"Y'know, Vladdie, I think I'm gonna pick the kids up from school today. Sorry to cut our get-together short, but..."

"Oh, that's quite alright! I just remembered that I have an important matter to attend to in business. It's within walking distance, so no need to offer me a lift. Until another time, old friend," they shook hands, and Jack hurried off to the Fenton Van, driving towards Casper High. Watching him leave, Vlad got an evil grin.

---

The school had been lavishly decorated for the upcoming dance, a large banner hanging across the front of the building (and covering the still empty hole where the Ghost Catcher once was). Tucker was holding the door open, asking every girl in his grade to the dance as they came out. All rejected him. Danny said goodbye to Tucker and Sam before running over to the van with Jazz.

"Hey Dad," he said, "Why are you picking us up?"

"Oh, just...y'know, a drive around with my kids," he smiled nervously. Danny and Jazz climbed in the car, "Hey Danny?"

"Yeah Dad?"

"If you were a ghost, you'd tell me, right?"

"Dad!" Jazz shouted.

"Would you?" he asked again, ignoring his daughter.

"Sure, Dad..." Danny smiled weakly.

"Are you a ghost?"

"Of course not!"

"That's my boy," they drove off, Danny now the one nervous.

_(He's a Phantom)  
(Danny Phantom)_

**_Yo, Danny Fenton, he was just fourteen  
When his parents built a very strange machine  
It was designed to view a world unseen_**

_(He's gonna catch 'em all cuz he's Danny Phantom)  
_  
**_When it didn't quite work  
His folks, they just quit  
But then Danny took a look inside of it  
There was a great big flash  
Everything just changed  
His molecules got all rearranged!_**

_(Phantom, Phantom)_

**_When he first woke up  
He realized  
He had snow white hair  
And glowing green eyes  
He could walk through walls,  
Disappear, and fly!  
He was much more unique than the other guy! _**

It was then that he knew what he had to do  
He had to stop all the ghosts  
That were coming through  
He's here to fight  
For me and YOU!

_(He's gonna catch 'em all cuz he's Danny Phantom)  
(He's gonna catch 'em all cuz he's Danny Phantom)_

**_Gonna catch them all cuz he's_** _Danny Phantom_

**_OUT OF TIME_  
**  
The ghost-sentry fell back, a three-pronged device in his neck. Behind the door that he had been standing guard at, several ghosts were crouched in trenches and on their knees behind ectoplasmic shields, all armed both with human and paranormal weapons. The room they were in was mainly just a large cave with the stalactites and stalagmites having been taken down, the walls and floor shaped and refined. Small green lights were all that allowed anyone to see anything. Another door lay at the end of the cave. Behind that door, Velkan's advisors were hurriedly packing up all important files and equipment, planning to move out through secret exits against Velkan's orders to hold their ground. The situation was desperate. The second base of The Order had finally been found.

"Hold your ground, men," the commander of the unit in the cave called out, "The advisors should be bringing in the equipment in any minute now," not even they knew of the advisors' cowardice, which had been growing since Vlad's betrayal (something still unknown to The Order). All the ghosts readied their arms as the creaking of the door signalled its opening. The first shot was fired. A Paranormalics soldier lay on the ground, wounded in the shoulder, as the rest of his unit charged in, the battle to determine the fate of The Order beginning. Though caught by surprise from the opening shot, the soldiers outnumbered The Order 3 to 1. As the sounds of combat grew worse, the advisors went into panic. Grabbing what they could, they headed to the secret exits and moved out as fast as they could...to be greeted by ectoplasmic lasers and ghost-traps. The captured ghosts of The Order had left nothing a secret. After the office room where the advisors had once been in, the main network of the base was revealed, one long hallway going into two hallways going opposite each other in direction. Down the right hallway, there was a room, a large half-circle. It was to be the home of a machine, the most complex and dangerous one that The Order had ever attempted to build. Even though it was only half finished, it was visually clear that this was one strange, complicated device. Velkan shoved two metal tubes into place in the centre of the room. Through the holes in the wall that let the cables run out to the generators, he could hear the sounds of combat. Setting a wrench down, he ran off to the office room.

"Men?" he looked around; the place had been stripped bare, with no sign of his advisors. It hit him.

"Cowards," he muttered. He turned to the door, where the shouting could be heard through the walls.

"Sir!" someone shouted to the ghost commander, "We can't hold here much longer!" he knew that.

"You in the front lines!" he shouted, "Hold firm! The rest of you, pull back to the office room!" those ghosts set to retreat flew towards the back of the cave, phasing through the walls. The commander saluted Velkan.

"What is our situation?" the head of The Order asked with concern.

"They won't hold for long, sir," the commander was out of breath, "We were never reinforced."

"My advisors have deserted us," Velkan said with a hint of malevolence, "This truly is our last stand. Those men captured were too low in The Order to know about The Endgame, and we can't risk them finding it. You and your men retreat back to the main hallway and hold there while I destroy The Endgame," the ghosts moved out. In the cave, the front line had broken, the ghosts retreating off to the sides as Paranormalics agents swarmed into the base. Behind them was their leader, Ken Bruce.

---

The room holding The Endgame was too large to destroy by ghost powers and Velkan's advisors had taken all the powerful explosives with them. All that was left was some old-fashioned dynamite; it would have to do. Velkan was hurriedly placing it around key areas of the machine when a voice called out.

"Velkan, is it?"

"How does the source of this voice know me?" he replied.

"Your men can be very talkative when persuaded."

"So if it isn't Ken Bruce," Velkan had yet to discover where the Paranormalics chief was hiding, "What brings you to our lair?"

"Your curious activities in Amity Park," the voice replied, "And now I'm interested in this machine."

"I'm afraid your curiosity will not be satisfied," Velkan prepared to light the fuse, when he heard a sound behind him. He whirled around; the last thing he saw was an ectoplasmic laser aimed right between his eyes. After knocking Velkan out, sealing him in a small, three-pronged device, and destroying that device, Bruce picked up the files left by the toolbox. They held the information and blueprints on the device Velkan had been working on...The Endgame, it was called. He looked up at the half-built machine itself, smiling to himself.

"What an excellent idea," he said to himself before heading back to the main hallway. His men were setting charges, preparing to destroy the base.

"Remove those charges at once!" Bruce barked.

"Sir..."

"Don't question my orders, sergeant! We're converting this into headquarters for a new operation! I want the best men brought here, I want our top mechanic here, and I want these plans," he held up the file, "examined by him at once! Are the ghosts who escaped through the secret tunnels still in existence?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Interrogate them! I want all the files they had with them left on my desk first thing tomorrow!"

"Yes, sir!" the sergeant and his men began detaching the charges from the walls, Bruce marching back out to the exit.


	2. Day Before the Dance

One by one the students of Casper High filed off the bus. It was a beautiful Wednesday morning, just two days away before the next big dance. Tucker was busy with his gadgets, listing girls whom he had and had not asked to the dance; everyone he had asked said no (Valerie had been sick the entire week).

"Tanya, no...Denise, no...**_man!_** There's gotta be _some_ girl in this school who'll go out with me so I don't have to get desperate and ask out Sam!" he noticed Danny and Sam staring at him, "Not that I wouldn't want to go as friends, it's just..." he laughed nervously, "Gotta go!" he ran off.

"So what are your plans for Friday night?" Sam asked.

"I dunno," Danny shrugged, "I might not even go since Jazz is making bets with my dad on what I'm gonna do."

"What?"

"Don't ask," he stopped by his locker, "See ya' in English."

"'K. See ya'" Sam headed off to her own locker. As Danny started to get his books from his locker, Jazz ran up.

"Well?" she said quickly, as if she was hyped up on sugar, "Did you ask her? Did you? Did you?" Danny sighed.

"Jazz, for the millionth time this week...**_NO!!!_**""

---

The bell rang, signalling the start of first period. Mr. Lancer came in just after everyone had taken their seats, pushing a cart with a TV on it.

"Before I hand back your tests, students," he plugged in the TV, "A new report on the..." he was interrupted by computerised beeping sounds, "...a news report on the..." they came again; Mr. Lancer was beginning to be annoyed, "a news..." they came again..."WHERE IS THAT COMING FROM!?"

"Cassie Phalen...Jordan Weasel...Katie Hubenka..." Tucker had picked a very bad moment to look through his PDA and continue his listing.

"Is there something you'd like to share with us, Mr. Foley?" Mr. Lancer marched over to his desk.

"Yeah, any girls in this class that I haven't asked out yet?" one girl raised her hand, "Would you..."

"No!"

"Drats!" he added that girl's name to the list.

"_Moving on..._" Mr. Lancer was now seriously ticked off.

"Oh, go ahead with class, I'll be quiet," Mr. Lancer grabbed Tucker's PDA from his hand, "Hey!"

"Depending on your conduct for the rest of class, you'll either get this back at the end of the hour or the end of the year. As I was saying, the latest anti-ghost reports have come in, and we are still following them," he turned the television on. The reporter that had become an all-too-familiar face for Danny appeared on the screen.

"The Order has been eliminated," he was saying, "Ken Bruce and a large squadron of men from Paranormalics raided their last base of operations yesterday, the location of which has not been stated. With this new victory, Bruce has again urged Congress to pass his state of emergency, and it looks like a vote will finally take place soon. President Hartman has continued to fight the passing and even the vote of the bill. However, with the latest anti-ghost march in Washington and the President's approval ratings down to 46, it looks as if he's working against the country," Mr. Lancer turned the TV off there.

"And now, your tests," he grabbed some papers off his desk, slowly handing them out to everyone. Danny moaned when he saw his test.

"Another C," he threw the paper into his notebook.

"...and I asked Alisha, and I asked Alice, and I tried to ask Paulina but she shot me down before I even tried..." Tucker hadn't even looked at his test yet, instead counting the girls he had asked out on his fingers. Danny sighed.

---

"I'm starting to worry about that state of emergency law they're trying to pass," Sam said at lunch as she caught some of her salad on her fork, "It looks like it's actually gonna happen."

"I know. And if my parents find out I'm a ghost because of that they'll go ballistic!" they both turned to Tucker for his opinion. Mr. Lancer had given him his PDA back (mainly because he couldn't figure out how to stop it from making so much noise), and he was now going through his lists again.

"Every girl in school who's not sick has turned me down except for Lisa Carbonell!" he shouted.

"Good luck asking her out, Tuck," Danny laughed, "She's gonna be busy tying to teach that Fischer kid how to dance."

"Then who the heck am I supposed to go to the dance with!?" he shouted, "Last time I went with Sam, you two ended up dancing anyway, and that makes me look desperate!"

"As if that's not already apparent," Sam said sarcastically.

"Ah, what the heck! I'm gonna try to ask that Carbonell chick out!" he got up, and Sam pulled out a watch.

"5...4...3...2...1..." Tucker came back, looking depressed.

"I hope Val gets better by tomorrow," he muttered, taking a large bite out of his sandwich.

---

"I expect your essays to be typed, double-spaced, and no less than 1000 words," Mr. Lancer said as the bell rang, "You are dismissed," everyone filed out, groaning over their assignment.

"An essay on the anti-ghost situation," Danny was saying, "I'm a ghost, and my parents are ghost-hunters who'll flip the minute they find out about this!"

"Just don't tell 'em," Tucker said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna check to see if any girls have become dateless since lunch," he ran off.

"So," Danny turned to Sam, "What're you doing for the dance?"

"Huh? Oh, I dunno," she said, "I was thinking of just showing up and hanging out," awkward silence followed.

"You want to go together as friends?" they both asked at the same time.

"Huh? Oh, sure!" "Of course!" "Yeah, uh..." random comments such as this came afterwards.

"See ya'" Sam waved good-bye as she headed outside.

"Did you...?" Jazz ran up again.

"Yes, I did..." Danny began.

"Did she say yes?"

"Yes, but we're just going as..."

"_YES!_ This proves conclusively that Dad puts his ghost-hunting before his family to the point where he knows nothing about us!"

"Jazz, we're going as..."

"I can't wait to tell him," she walked off, rubbing her hands together. Danny sighed.

"Never mind."

---

Danny noticed a strange car parked near his home as he approached, having run ahead of Jazz so he wouldn't have to hear her bragging. The car was marked "Paranormalics," causing Danny to gulp. The worst-case scenario immediately popped into his head.

"Take it easy, Danny," he said to himself, "It might not be what you think...I hope it's not what I think," he walked in. He could hear his dad shouting with someone.

"Are you implying that my family had something to do with the Amity incident!?" Jack's voice could be heard throughout the entire house.

"I am implying that your inventions are unstable and unrefined, and could have easily released anything from The Ghost-Zone!"

"Then your problem is with me, but don't go accusing my family!"

"I have reason to believe that a member of your family has been..."

"Get out!"

"What!?"

"**_GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!_**" Jack's voice almost shook the floor. Danny watched as a flustered Ken Bruce came from the kitchen. He looked even more enraged when he saw Danny.

"I know what you are," he whispered in Danny's ear before hitting him in the shoulder. Ignoring the rude gesture, Danny walked into the kitchen.

"What was all that about?" he asked.

"Those fools wouldn't know a ghost from a piece of toast!" Jack shouted, "I'm still so boiled up I want to take it out on the first person who gives me bad news!" Jazz ran in, grinning.

"He asked Sam out!" she said, "You owe me $15!" Danny slowly left the room as his dad began to release his rage.


	3. Deadly Dancing

"Ken Bruce?" Tucker said in awe over the webcam, "The head honcho of Paranormalics?"

"Yeah. Frost must've made an extra file on me or something because he knows what I am. At least he said he did."

"Do your folks know?" Sam said on the phone.

"No. Not yet, anyway. We've gotta watch out for Paranormalics big time now. So how're your evenings going?"

"Great. If you don't count my still having no date."

"Can't help you there," Sam said loudly over the phone, "I'm already going with someone."

"You mean I can't even resort to desperate measures!? Great!" he mumbled sarcastically before shutting down the camera.

---

Thursday came and went, and Friday was here at last. Tucker, still left dateless, was not in a good mood.

"If Mr. Lancer even thinks about throwing some kind of pop quiz, I'm gonna..." his mumbling was cut off by Mr. Lancer entering with a television set once more.

"Good morning, students," he greeted them, "Today..." he was interrupted by Tucker's long, annoying half-moan, half-yell. He then realised he didn't even know what Mr. Lancer was about to say.

"Oh," he laughed nervously, "Sorry."

"As I was saying. Today, there is yet another report on the anti-ghost situation," he pressed the power button to the set.

"General Gary Conrad has been found," the reporter was saying, "He and several men who also went missing from Paranormalics were recently confirmed as the terrorists who attacked five Paranormalics agents trying to take down an overweight ghost who controlled boxes," Danny rolled his eyes at that, "Ken Bruce has declared them 'the enemy.' President Hartman refused to comment, but his approval ratings have continued to decline in light of this incident."

---

"Why would General Conrad fight Paranormalics?" Tucker asked at lunch.

"He and the President thought that The Order was the only real enemy," Sam said, "remember? That's why they sacked him."

"I didn't think he'd start defending ghosts, though."

"Neither did I," Danny said after taking a bite from his sandwich, "Let's just hope they keep it up so Bruce has something else to worry about."

---

"Danny!" his mom called down to the lab, "Dear, you're going to be late to your dance!"

"Be right up," he called back before turning his attention to the computer screen again. He was dressed up for the dance, the same outfit he wore to the first one and to Frost's party. On the computer was a file containing every bit of anti-ghost news that had been on since The Order's attack on Paranormalics. Sam had given him all the information that went up while he was captured, and he had taken care of everything since. Now he was adding the news of Conrad's attack.

"There we go," he said to himself. Then he got up and headed upstairs.

---

"'Get down with the funk.' 'Yo, radical.' 'This dig is hot,'" Mr. Lancer leaned against the punch table, practising his 'hip' phrases. The school dance had begun. Paulina had a line of 12 boys (lacking any dignity whatsoever) waiting to dance with her. Dash was showing off to as many girls as he could. Tucker was sitting down, bored and still dateless. All in all, what most students of Casper High were expecting. Danny and Sam came in quietly, Sam in her stunning dress from the last dance.

"Hey Tuck," Danny said as they walked by him, "Still no date?"

"What do you think? Wait, _you're_ Sam's date?" he pointed at Danny.

"Yeah, why?"

"Where's the gym teacher?!" Tucker shouted, marching away, "He owes me $5"

"Did _everyone_ we know place a bet that we would go to this thing together? My brothers bet my mom $57."

"Now that is weird," Danny said, "Want to get something to eat?" she nodded. They headed off to the snack bar.

---

The science teacher walked down the halls of the school. Even though it was a _school_ dance, the students were only aloud in the gym and commons. While Mr. Lancer handled the students with his "hip, young lingo," the rest of the teachers roamed the building, insuring that no students would sneak into a classroom and pull a prank, among other things. The science teacher checked his watch and sighed.

"Two more hours to go," he muttered, looking downstairs. The other English teacher was scolding some of Dash's friends for attempting to break into Mr. Lancer's classroom. Same as the last dance. He went back to his classroom. The music was too loud for anyone to hear the sound of a black van approaching.

---

The DJ popped in the first song for a slow dance into the CD player. It just happened to be "Face to Face."

"Remember this song?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Too well," Danny looked at his left shoulder; underneath his jacket and shirt, the mark from that soldier's laser was still there.

"If you don't want to dance to this song, then..."

"Nah, I don't mind," they started to dance. Tucker walked up to one girl who didn't appear to have a date and started to open his mouth.

"No!" she said, and walked away.

"I didn't even say anything yet!" he shouted back.

---

The grappling hook caught onto the roof of the school securely, and the sergeant signalled to his men that it was safe to move up. The window to a room holding Mr. Wynn's history class was shattered, and one-by-one the soldiers moved in, one of them opening the door with a skeleton key. They moved as stealthily and silently as possible, but the science teacher had sharp ears. Grabbing a flashlight, he headed off to the hallway where he had heard the noise, shining his light around. Nothing.

"Must've been that music," he said to himself, shaking his head, "Those dang kids have no taste in music. I remember..." he was silenced when someone came up from behind, holding his mouth shut and hitting him over the head. The solider who did it signalled to the others that it was safe to move out. All of them readied their ghost-trackers and ectoplasmic lasers.

---

Danny, Sam, and Tucker had taken a table in the commons and had brought over a pizza. Even Tucker was cheering up. He told a joke, and they all laughed. Danny's laughter was soon cut short, however, by a strange sight. He thought he had seen someone upstairs, and it wasn't a teacher.

"What's wrong?" Sam had noticed his change of mood.

"I saw something," he opened the doors to the commons and headed over to the stairs, Sam and Tucker following.

"We're not allowed back here, Danny!" Sam whispered.

"She's got a point," Tucker added.

"Shhhhh," Danny saw another person, "Wait here," he headed upstairs. No one was there. Only the noise alerted Danny that an ectoplasmic laser had been fired. He quickly ducked, going ghost and standing back up. The Paranormalics agent who had fired the shot was charging down the hall.

"Guys," Danny looked down to the first floor, "We've got trouble," his eyes caught a small, round bomb rolling down towards him. He jumped back just in time.

"You!" a gym teacher caught Sam and Tucker by surprise, "What are you two doing in here?" he quickly had his attention diverted. The soldier who had tossed the bomb had now charged forward, engaging in a hand-to-hand duel with Danny, creating a lot of noise from upstairs.

"What's going on up there?" the teacher demanded. As he finished, Danny kicked the soldier away, knocking him over the side and falling on top of the teacher. The sound of his crashing not only brought the other soldiers coming; it was heard by some students near the door, Dash among them.

"What goes on out here!?" he barged in.

"Nothing," Tucker smiled weakly.

"That's a brilliant cover," Sam rolled her eyes.

"I'm getting to the bottom of this!" the gym teacher knocked the unconscious guard off him and charged upstairs. Danny was pinned up against the railing that prevented students from walking off and crashing to the first floor, holding back a soldier with a knife coated in ectoplasmic material. He kicked him back into two other soldiers, ducking to avoid a punch from another and taking him out with a chop to the neck.

"Ghost!" the gym teacher shouted, "Ghost! Ghost! GHOOOOOOOOOOOST! The school is haunted!" he charged down the stairs, following Dash back into the commons, both of them now screaming. As the school slowly broke into a panic, the only ones not screaming were Danny, Sam, and Tucker; Danny still stuck upstairs with the soldiers, Sam and Tucker looking more and more concerned by the second.

---

Things in the gym stayed calm with another slow dance playing until Dash barged in.

"Ghost!" he screamed, "There's a ghost!" everyone immediately started flowing out of the gym, trying to catch a glimpse of the ghost. The door was broken down, and more Paranormalics agents flowed into the building. The school was now in complete and utter chaos.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Mr. Lancer demanded before being trampled by his students.

---

Having finally disposed of the guards upstairs, Danny phased down to the first floor.

"Great job handling that secretly, Danny!" Tucker shouted sarcastically.

"Well when I came here, I didn't expect that Paranormalics agents would attack me. I didn't even know they knew where I go to school," they now noticed the majority of the students gathered nearby, mouths hanging open.

"Romeo and Juliet!" Mr. Lancer exclaimed, covered in bruises.

"Fenton!" Dash pointed, "You're a..."

"Run," Danny whispered to Sam and Tucker. In a flash, the three friends took off in separate directions, students, teachers, and agents alike charging after them. Danny had phased up to the second floor and was now flying down the hallways, Dash and his jock friends coming after him. Seeing two Paranormalics agents running up the flight of stairs up the hall, Danny stopped in mid-air.

"Great," he moaned, and then flew up, causing the two parties to crash into one another. Before he could get away though, Dash's hand shot out, grabbing Danny by the foot. One Paranormalics agent was wearing more compact ghost gloves than Jack's. He grabbed Danny in a half-nelson, the ghost gloves keeping him from phasing through. One soldier readied a three- pronged trap and prepared to fire, but before he could, a laser knocked the weapon from his hand. Sam had come up from the staircase the soldiers had used. His group loosening due to surprise, Danny managed to get free, knocking both men out and flying over to Sam.

"Where's Tucker?" he asked hurriedly.

"Downstairs getting chased by Lancer."

"Let's go," he grabbed her arm, phasing them through the floor and flying off. Tucker was backed into a corner, Lancer blocking his escape.

"_I'm not even a ghost!_" he moaned. Danny grabbed him with his free hand, and the three phased through the floor, re-emerging outside and becoming solid.

"Bad idea," Sam motioned to the street. Five Paranormalics cars were lined up in the front of the school. Danny grabbed his two friends and phased back through the street before they could get caught.

---

"Do you think it was on the news?" Tucker asked as they opened the door to Danny's house, Danny still in ghost mode.

"When a government agency finds something in a school interesting, then it's probably going to be on the news," Sam said.

"I just hope..." Danny's parents walked into the room, their jaws dropping when they saw him.

"Danny..." Jack managed to say.

"Dad," Danny looked over to Sam and Tucker; their faces showed their support for whatever he decided to do, "There's something I need to tell you."


	4. Return the next Monday

"I'm sure I've got something that'll cure you in the lab somewhere," Jack muttered, "No ghost possesses Jack Fenton's son! I'll..."

"Dad, I'm not possessed, I haven't been overshadowed, I just have ghost powers," Danny said.

"But how, Danny?" his mom was taking this better than his dad. The entire family, along with Sam and Tucker, had gathered in the living room, Danny back in his normal form. So far, Danny had only said that he was half-ghost.

"Remember when you guys first built the portal to The Ghost-Zone and couldn't figure out how to turn it on?" Danny said

"Yeah," Jack thought back to that day, "It was activated later and I was never able to figure out why."

"You forgot to hit the 'on' button," Jack slapped his head, "After it didn't work I went inside, accidentally hit the switch, and..." he went ghost.

"So you've had these powers for a couple of months then?"

"Yes."

"And you never told us?"

"Well, with you guys being ghost hunters, I..."

"Say no more," Jack looked down, ashamed, "I understand. If you'd like, then we'd be willing to..." this was painful for him to say, "...change professions."

"You don't have to do that."

"So all this time only Tucker and Sam have known?" Maddie asked. All three friends nodded (Jazz acted as if this was news to her), "Well, thank you for keeping it a secret like he asked," a knock on the door interrupted conversation. No one moved until a second knock came, at which point Jack reluctantly got up out of his chair and headed towards the door. It had started to storm outside. Jack had barely opened the door when the wind knocked it against the wall. A flash of lightning allowed Jack to see the face of their visitor; Ken Bruce.

"Mr. Fenton," he nodded.

"What are you doing here?" Jack muttered through clenched teeth.

"There's no point in hiding what your son is from you at this point, Jack..." Bruce started to say.

"I know what he is. He's a ghost. Your job is done, get away from my property."

"My job is not done," Bruce started to move forward, "I was just at his school trying to find him."

"I heard on the news. What do you want with him?"

"You remember your vacation last Halloween, I'm sure. He was meddling in government affairs."

"Government affairs done without any authority from the CIA, President, or any military figure."

"Standing in the way of government in the manner he and his girlfriend did is a criminal offence. And you know now that he's a ghost."

"He has ghost-powers due to an accident in my lab. He's a shy, harmless 14- year old boy..."

"Who defeated all my men at the school. He's a ghost, he's dangerous, and we're taking him."

"You can try," Sam had come in from the living room, along with everyone else.

"You're standing in the way of government work," Bruce still remained calm.

"I've beat your soldiers already," Danny moved forward, "I'm not afraid of doing it again."

"You're either very brave, very confident, or very foolish."

"Probably all three."

"You've not heard the last of me," Bruce headed out the door.

"We're terrified," Sam said sarcastically.

"Thanks," Danny said to everyone, relief flowing through his voice. Jack smiled and patted Danny on the shoulder. The phone rang, and both parents went to get it.

"Hello?" they could hear Jack from by the door, "Ah, Mrs. Manson! How nice to hear from...what? What do you mean Danny's on the news? Yes, I know he's a ghost! What are you saying? Are you..." at this point Maddie grabbed the phone.

"Are you implying that my son would do something to hurt Samantha!? _That's ridiculous!_ She and Tucker have known about his powers a lot longer than any of us had, and he's done nothing to...._what!?_" at this point Danny walked into the kitchen. His mom still had the phone, "Are you...how dare you...yeah? Well same to you, too!" she slammed the phone back on the receiver. Sam and Tucker couldn't hear the conversation for a few minutes after this. Then the phone rang again.

"Hello?" Jack had answered it, "Mr. Foley? Yes, I saw the news...what!? How dare you...you can't stop...all right!" the silent conversation continued. Then...

"**_WHAT!?_**" Danny marched out of the kitchen. His eyes were glowing and in his rage he accidentally fired an energy blast into a lamp.

"Danny, what's wrong?" Sam asked.

"Apparently your parents think that I'm too dangerous for you to be anywhere with me except school! And that's if they let ghosts into school!"

"What!?" Sam ran into the kitchen to call home, Danny marched upstairs, slamming the door to his room shut, and Tucker just stood in shock and confusion.

"I can't _believe_ I couldn't get a date to the dance!" he finally said.

---

As it turned out, Danny was allowed back to school Monday (though the man sent by the school district to tell him such had nervously added that he didn't have to if he didn't want to). As he got on the bus, he could tell today was not going to be a good day. Even though he tried, it was very hard not to notice all the stares of fear and loathing being shot at him from all over. Only two people weren't looking at him like he was a monster. He sat down by Sam, Tucker behind them.

"Any luck reasoning with your parents?" he asked.

"What do you think?" Sam mumbled. Her sore tone pretty much answered the question.

"What about you, Tuck?"

"Nope," he sighed, "I don't get it. We've known you our whole lives! We've known about your ghost-powers and..."

"_We've_ known about his ghost-powers," Sam interrupted, "Our _parents_ didn't until last night. And unfortunately, they find out when superstition and anti-ghost feelings are sky-high thanks to Paranormalics and The Order," someone tapped Danny's shoulder. It was one of Dash's jock friends, smiling weakly.

"Hey, Fenton...or Danny, if you'd rather..." he laughed nervously, "Listen, I haven't beat on you that much...it's all Dash's idea, y'see, and..._please oh please don't hurt me!_"

"Uh..." Danny was confused, "I wasn't going to..." Tucker stopped him from finishing.

"Dude," he whispered, "What are you doing!? This is the perfect chance to give these bullies a taste of their own medicine!"

"Tucker, even if I wanted to do that, it's the last thing I..."

"Yeah, you'd better watch out for him!" Tucker turned to the jock, grinning mischievously, "One wrong move, and you'll..."

"**_Tucker!_**" Sam and Danny shouted.

"What? I'm just having a little fun!" Sam smacked him in the face with one of her books.

---

The glares kept coming at all sides as Danny headed to his locker. He found Paulina standing by it, looking furious.

"_You_," she pointed at him.

"Oh...hi, Paulina," Danny said nervously. He hadn't had a crush on her ever since he found out that she was helping Dash find out about his powers, but he still had problems speaking around her.

"You," she said again, "You've got some explaining to do," she interrupted, "You used your freaky ghost powers to make me go to the dance that one time, didn't you!?"

"What? No! You said yourself you were just trying to..."

"I can't remember it well, but I have a blurred memory of two people fighting inside me. And one of them was you!"

"I was trying to get the ghost out of you!"

"Yeah, right! Just stay away from me, you freaky ghost-loser!"

"_What did you just call me!?_" Danny's anger flared up, his eyes flashing green and his hair flying around. Paulina wasn't the only person who had noticed Danny's bit of rage. Danny calmed down as he noticed all the glares he was getting, though his breathing and expression showed he was still plenty angry.

"Just...just leave me alone, Danny. I was gonna say that in the cafeteria where everyone could hear me, but now I've said it in a more private conversation," Paulina finished. She slowly backed away from his locker, and Danny went to get his books.

----

"Time to see your homework, students," Mr. Lancer had been the only person to remain calm when Danny had walked into the classroom, but Danny doubted he felt that much different than anyone else. This suspicion was confirmed fast.

"F-?!" Danny exclaimed when he saw his paper. He hadn't gotten a single question right.

"That can't be right!" Sam looked at his paper, "You have the same thing as I do on a couple problems and I got those right."

"Sorry Mr. Fenton," Mr. Lancer grinned, "but in light of what we now know about you, I couldn't be sure whether those answers were yours or whether you had stolen them from someone."

"What, you mean reading minds? I can't do that unless I overshadow someone, and for me to do that on a test would mean I'd have to be in two places at once!"

"I'm not so sure you can't do that, Mr. Fenton."

"I can't. There's another ghost-hybrid I ran into that can, but he has twenty years more experience than I do and…"

"I don't know what your powers can do, Mr. Fenton," Mr. Lancer stared Danny in the eye, "And I refuse to trust any papers you hand in from now on."

"You can't flunk him just 'cause he's a ghost!" Sam protested.

"Would you like to fail this class as well, Ms. Manson?"

"If it'll prove you've now suddenly decided to use a biased grading system, then...yeah."

"That remark has earned you a detention, Ms. Manson," Mr. Lancer turned back to Danny, "Your grade will remain as it is."

---

"You seriously messed up my glasses, Sam," Tucker had taken them off and was trying to straighten them out. He'd let them stay crooked through the first part of the day.

"I can't believe Lancer's failing you just because you're a ghost!" Sam said, ignoring Tucker.

"I was pretty sure he'd freak out, but I didn't think he'd change my grades," Danny got other concerns when Dash and his jock friends marched up, the one on the bus quivering.

"You messing with my friends using your freaky powers, Fenton!?" Dash demanded.

"No..." Danny shot a glare at Tucker.

"What _else_ have you said about his powers?!" Sam mumbled.

"Just a couple little things..." Tucker smiled weakly, slowly sinking under the table.

"Look here, Fenton," Dash tried to stay calm, but his voice was clearly shaking, "I don't know anything about your powers, but if you use 'em to mess with my friends, then I'm gonna..."

"Dash, I haven't done anything. Well, there was one time I pulled a few practical jokes, but the really bad stuff there was done by this weird bully-hating ghost named Poindexter..."

"So you've used your powers on me!?" Dash grabbed Danny by the shirt collar and readied a fist.

"Will all students please report to the theatre at this time? Thank you," the secretary said over the intercom.

"We'll finish this later," Dash said, walking off with his friends.

---

"Settle down, students," Mr. Lancer walked up, "I mean, cool it, dogs!" silence, "Anyway, the latest anti-ghost news has come in. This bit is particularly good news for all but one of us," he shot a nasty grin at Danny, as did a few others. The screen and projector had already been set up. The lights were dimmed and the report came on.

"Just in from Washington," the reporter looked at the paper in his hand, "Ken Bruce's state of emergency against all paranormal beings in the United States has passed over President Hartman's veto as of 12:14 PM this Monday. A squadron of men is already being prepared to occupy the town of Amity Park, which was the frequent target of the now eliminated ghost terrorist group, The Order. The town still suffers from haunting by their Public Ghost Enemy #1. In other news, a strange glowing white light was seen in the middle of a forest in Delaware, but soon vanished..." the clip was cut there.


	5. On the Run

On the way home from school, Sam and Tucker stayed with Danny against their parents' orders. Danny had been extremely edgy since the news report.

"Danny, if you keep moving your head around looking for something you're going to make it come off," Tucker commented.

"They said on the news that Paranormalics was _preparing_ their men to occupy Amity," Sam said, "It doesn't mean they're here yet. That gives us some time to think about our plans."

"Unless your parents force you to go back home," Danny was still nervous.

"They can try," Sam shrugged, "It's not like we're gonna co-operate anyway. Right, Tucker?" silence, "Tucker?"

"I'm thinking..."

"**_TUCKER!_**" Sam and Danny shouted.

"Relax, I'm just kidding," Danny sighed in annoyance and opened the door to his house. His parents were moving around with boxes in their hands, serious looks on their faces.

"Danny, go up to your room and pack your things. Now," his dad said.

"Why, what's going..."

"_Now_," Jack said more defiantly, "Everything out of the lab, Maddie?"

"Yes, but I don't know what to do about The Ghost-Zone Portal."

"We'll come back eventually and I don't know how to turn it off...do you, son?"

"No. What's going..."

"We'll have to seal the lab," he ran downstairs.

"Danny, listen to your father and pack up. Sam, Tucker, you'll have to go home."

"What!?" Danny was now incredibly confused, "Don't tell me you've got a grudge against them because of their parents now!"

"It's not that. We're moving."

"Why!? _What the heck is going on!?!_"

"Didn't they show the state of emergency announcement at school?" the three teens nodded, "We need to get out of here before they show up. After Friday night they'll probably get us all arrested."

"We're not leaving then," Sam said, "We were here that night too."

"Sam, I appreciate this, but it's not for you to..." the phone rang.

"I'll get it," Jack came up from the lab, grabbing the phone, "Hello? Ah, Mrs. Manson..." Sam began waving her arms and shaking her head frantically in a way that showed that she wanted him to say "she's not here."

"...No, she's not over here," Jack caught on, "Have you tried the Foleys? Not there either...well, if she comes by, I'll send her straight home...all right. Good-bye," he hung up.

"_Jack!_" Maddie shouted, "What are you doing!?"

"If Samantha and Tucker are this devoted to Danny they'll probably stow away in the back of the Fenton Van anyway, so why try and stop them?" Sam, Tucker, and Danny all smiled in relief, "I sealed off the lab and Jazz has the Spectre Speeder ready."

"Sam, Tucker..." Maddie was about to object to Jack's plan before sighing, "Never mind," she ran off, telling Danny to get packed. This time, he obliged.

---

"Your mother's taking the Fenton RV where we loaded most of the equipment, food, clothes, etc. and your sister's in the Spectre Speeder. That leaves you kids with me," none of the kids looked too happy about that; Jack Fenton was not known for his expertise in driving.

"Uh, Dad? The Spectre Speeder has room, doesn't it?"

"Not with all your sister's papers in there. Hop in," Danny sighed, climbing into the Fenton Van. Sam and Tucker took the back seats, which had been moved up to make room for some bags and newly installed computers. They waited for the Fenton RV to pull out first, and then waited to see that Jazz had gotten the Spectre Speeder out of the docking bay before moving out themselves.

"We're we going?" Danny asked.

"Either to your aunt's or to join the resistance movement to Paranormalics," Jack said, shifting gears, "Conrad seemed to be moving north from Virginia last time I checked."

"Can we go by my house?" Tucker asked, "I need to get my spare set of glasses."

"Tucker," Sam said, "We are trying to get out of town without our parents knowing and with no knowledge of when Paranormalics will show up, and you want to go to your house?"

"Yeah."

"Forget it," Danny talked this time, "They're probably on their way already."

"But..."

"No way!"

---

"Dad, why did you stop so he could get his glasses!?" Danny moaned.

"It can't take that long, can it?" the walkie-talkie Jack had on his belt went off, "Maddie?"

"Where are you, Jack?" her voice sounded annoyed.

"In an alley near Tucker's. He needed to get a spare set of glasses, so..."

"You stopped for that!?"

"He's coming out now, so just relax..."

"When he gets in the car, hit the gas!" her voice suddenly changed to a worried tone.

"Maddie, what's wrong!?"

"They're coming into town!" Jazz shouted over the other line. Tucker got into the car at that point, and noticed everyone's concerned looks.

"What?" he asked.

"Brace yourself," Jack slammed down on the gas, taking off and knocking Tucker into the back of the van. Already Paranormalics vans were patrolling the streets, Jack nearly crashing into two of them. They quickly followed in pursuit, joined by a third van. They were moving just as fast as Jack was, and gaining.

"I've got three on my tail and I'm passing King Street," Jack said into the walkie-talkie, "Where are you?"

"Five blocks over and to your north," Maddie answered, "Jazz is right above me. I haven't been...someone's caught me! I'll lose 'em and meet you at the city's south exit," with that, Jack turned off the walkie-talkie and grinned.

"Dad," Danny looked nervous, "You're not planning to..."

"Time to use the jet propulsion, baby!" his finger slammed down on a big red button that had a caution box around it. Already going at 120 mph, the van shot forward, almost forcing the back doors open and pushing Danny and Sam back into their seats. It didn't do any good, though. The same device was in the Paranormalics vans.

"I _knew_ those thievin' rats were stealing technology from me somehow!" Jack muttered when he noticed.

"Try and lose 'em," Danny went ghost, "I've got an idea," he phased through the bottom of the van, re-emerging below and holding onto the bottom of the car for dear life. With Danny's seat available, Tucker slowly pulled himself towards the front of the van, finally making it over the back seat and into the front.

"Alright, time to look at gadgets!" he cracked his knuckles.

"Just don't push anything on my side of the control panel," Jack advised, "The ones on my side all control the car's driving."

---

After phasing down, Danny flew back towards the first Paranormalics van, grabbing onto the bottom of the car and getting as good a grip as he could with one hand. With the other he formed an energy blast and fired it into the jets, causing the van to abruptly slow down. He fired another one, and the van began skidding out of control, crashing into a fire hydrant; Danny let go right before it hit, flying towards the second van. He did the same to this one, sending it into a light pole. On the third van, he landed on the roof instead. This seemed to be the fastest; it was gaining on his dad's van quick He phased down into the front, knocking out the driver and shoving him into the back. He took the driver's seat.

"This would be so much easier if I actually knew how to drive," he said to himself, grabbing the wheel. The van was going downhill, almost side-by- side with Jack's van. He spun the wheel in the opposite direction and jumped out, phasing into his dad's van, which abruptly turned and stopped as he became solid again. Danny opened his eyes after the van had completely stopped. His head had landed in Sam's lap. He shot up as soon as he noticed this.

"...Sorry," he finally said.

"No problem," both felt even more awkward than the time when they had fallen on top of each other after escaping The Order's lair outside Amity.

"Good work, son!" Jack turned around, beaming, "All three of them taken down at once! Those are some powers of yours!"

"Err...thanks," he said meekly, still uncomfortable about where his head had landed.

"Now let's get out of this town!"

"Dad, can you not..." Jack hit the jet propulsion, knocking everyone back into their seats.

---

Among the things packed in the Fenton RV, there was camping gear. After meeting up outside the south edge of town, the group had agreed to camp out in the woods rather than try to make it to a small town. Now night had fallen, a fire burning. Jack had activated the monitor that displayed the news in the Fenton Van.

"Since occupying Amity Park, Paranormalics agents have attempted and failed to capture Jack Fenton, a lunatic ghost-hunter who escaped town earlier today. It was revealed that his son was half-ghost and authorities have reason to believe that the family has captured two students of Casper High School; Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley," pictures of them appeared on screen, and Sam rolled her eyes, "If you have any information about this, please contact Paranormalics at once. In a related story, members of the resistance movement to Paranormalics have recently been found to be hiding in a broken down warehouse, all that remains of a town several miles south of Amity that burned to the ground a few years ago," Jack turned it off there.

"I propose heading that way," he said.

"I agree," Maddie added.

"Like we have a choice?" Jazz put in sarcastically.

---

The group had gotten up early and headed out fast; if it was said on the news, that meant that Paranormalics agents were sure to be on their way to the warehouse. There was an old road leading to it, but it was in poor condition. Soon enough, however, it was in sight.

"There it is," Jack said over the walkie-talkie.

"And here come Paranormalics agents behind us," Jazz said. Looking into the mirror, Jack saw them.

"Hang on, kids!" he hit the jet propulsion.

---

The warehouse had been converted into a fort...at least, the best fort 35 men and ghosts who just wanted peace and quiet could make. It had been a miracle that Conrad had managed to recruit any ghosts into this resistance, but somehow he managed, bringing their numbers up to 117. These 35 had been sent up with most of the best equipment (which hadn't been the best to start with) to occupy Amity Park, but sure that Paranormalics would beat them to it, Colonel John Fountain, the commander, decided to form a stronghold in the warehouse. Fountain had broken his leg when he fell from a platform while mounting a grenade launcher, so Lieutenant Colonel Wincat Alcala had taken over. He now stood at the north end of the fort with ten sentries, watching the van, the RV, and the hover car approach, followed by two Paranormalics vans.

"Cover 'em!" Alcala shouted when he saw that his sentries weren't doing anything.

"Allow The Box Ghost to handle the situation!" the annoying blue weirdo flew up, sending several boxes towards the enemy vans. Distracted, they crashed into one another, completely wrecking themselves. The drivers fled.

"How many times do I have to tell you to get out of..." Alcala stopped shouting, "Hey, he did it!" The doors to the fort were opened for the three vehicles that had been pursued. Alcala ran down to greet those who were coming out from them.

"I'm Wincat Alcala, you folks alright?" he asked.

"Think so. I'm Jack Fenton, Ghost Hunter Extraordinare!" this drew gasps from the ghost defenders of the fort.

"Then what brings you here?"

"Paranormalics has no proper handling for paranormal science! More importantly, my son's half-ghost and they're trying to take him!"

"Half-ghost? Is your son's name Danny Fenton?"

"It is. Why?"

"I am The Box Ghost!" the little nimrod flew over, "Your son is the ghost-child! The phantom boy! The halfa! I have confronted him before, but now, on the same side, we form an uneasy alliance! He is either loved or loathed in the zone of the paranormal! BEWARE!" he flew off. Alcala shook his head and walked over to Danny.

"Good to meet you, Danny," he shook his hand.

"Uh...thanks," Danny looked around, "I didn't know you guys recruited ghosts."

"Well, you're not all evil, right? You know that idiot Box Ghost?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"We've been trying to get rid of him for the past few days," Alcala whispered to him, "I'll break the news to Colonel Fountain."

"So you're not in charge?" Jack asked.

"No. Colonel Fountain is, but he took a fall helping us with that grenade launcher," he pointed to it, "Broke his foot and been out of action ever since," he headed over to an area of the warehouse that had been turned into barracks. A minute later, he came out with a man on crutches and dressed crudely.

"Jack Fenton, I'm Colonel Fountain," he shook Jack's hand, "Good to meet ya'. All this equipment here yours?"

"It is."

"Good. What we lack in manpower this should make up for. When we cleared out of Paranormalics we took as much stuff with us as we could, but we only managed to get prototype lasers and one-pronged ghost traps we've since turned into tranquillisers. Is your son really Danny Phantom?"

"...If that's what he calls himself as a ghost, then yes," Jack motioned to his son. Fountain walked over and shook his hand.

"Glad to meet you as well. We've heard some of the ghosts mention you," he suddenly raised his voice, "I want some men to move out and get everything that they can out of those wrecked trucks!" he turned back to Jack, "I'll get someone to help you get your things out of your vans. We'll get some barracks for you."

"Thank you," Jack opened the back doors to the Fenton Van, and Sam and Tucker went get some things out.

"We have a radio that plays the news," Fountain said to Danny, "Heard the report last night. I don't really think you kidnapped your friends there, right?"

"They came with us."

"Thought so," he looked at Sam, "She your girlfriend?"

"My best friend. Did you also hear that you guys got discovered?"

"Yep. I reckon we've got about three to five days before they decide how many men to send here and how many stay in Amity. Bruce isn't with them in Amity and without him, it takes a while for them to make decisions," Tucker came out of the van, holding a heavy box. He tripped, and the box landed on Fountain's broken foot. His eyes grew wider.

"Will someone..." his voice was weak, "please help me re-position the bones in my foot?" he slowly hobbled off to his room with Alcala's help.


	6. Last Stand?

By the evening, everything had been worked out. The barracks had been the most successful add-on to the warehouse, so there was plenty of rooms (though only a few fully-built). Danny and Tucker had gotten their own room, Jazz and Sam theirs, and Jack and Maddie theirs. Their food; meant to last them a few days; had been added to a food supply that could feed the garrison for about two weeks. Then came the matter of their positions. Danny, Tucker, Sam, and Jazz were originally excused from fighting, but when the former three insisted, Alcala and Fountain reluctantly agreed (and Jazz reluctantly played along).

"Jack," Alcala said, "No offence, but you make a rather large target. You manage equipment at the north wall and hand up bombs and grenades to whoever's manning the grenade launcher. The rest of you...you'll try some target practice in the morning. If you do alright, you'll be sentries at the north wall," after that was over with, dinner came around. Now Danny, Sam, and Tucker were in the room the two boys were sharing.

"I don't know if this was such a good idea after all," Tucker was saying, "There's work involved."

"Well it's not like we have anywhere else to go to," Danny said. Sam agreed.

"Looks like these people are the only ones we can trust until it's over."

"Right."

"If you say so," Tucker looked around, "And we get to handle some awesome weapons! We'll show those Paranormalics freaks what's comin' to 'em!" he began imitating firing a machine gun. Sam and Danny sighed.

"Is it really a good idea to give him any job involving weapons?" Sam asked.

"Probably not."

---

The next morning, target practice began. Everyone but Jack was given a laser and attempted to fire at the boxes The Box Ghost was controlling to be moving targets. Maddie was up first; she nailed them all on the first try.

"Wow!" Danny exclaimed, "Where'd you learn to do that, Mom?"

"Well, you know my sister. She taught me a few things," she got the job as a sentry. Next Jazz was up. Despite her lack of enthusiasm for the job she actually did pretty well, only missing one target on the first try. She got the job. Next was Sam; she did as well as Jazz did. With Tucker came disaster. He hit only four targets and accidentally shot The Box Ghost, a skinny ghost with a big nose, and two ghosts with goatees.

"...Oops," he said when he saw how well he'd done, "Can I try again?"

"You get three tries, you used one," Alcala said. On the second try, Tucker managed to hit five targets, but accidentally hit Fountain's bad leg (fortunately, since it was an ectoplasmic laser, it didn't hurt...much).

"One more," Fountain said, slightly annoyed. He got seven out of ten. After a brief discussion with Fountain, Alcala reluctantly gave Tucker the job. Danny scored eight out of ten first try, but he had to do more than fire with a laser. He had to hit the targets in ghost form. He did that with ease, getting a perfect score. All of them had managed to get the job of sentry, Jack the equipment manager. However, Jack couldn't resist, and had The Box Ghost set up the targets again. He hit only two and blasted 15 ghosts on accident.

---

"Wonder how many soldiers they'll send?" Tucker said. It was late in the evening, and not a sign of anything.

"That's a good question," Alcala was standing behind them, "All we know about Bruce is that he and most of his best men left for somewhere. The sergeant left this morning according to the radio. There's about 120 agents in Paranormalics now, and Amity wasn't the only town occupied. They left 20 in Frost's home town where the base is, and the other 20 made up the men that went with Bruce, so that leaves...80 in Boston. I'm guessing they'll send about 50. We'll be outnumbered, but not by much. Problem is, we only have tranquillisers and the lasers only affect ghosts. Conrad was moving up towards us but he had us take so much of the good equipment with us he won't be here in time."

"Well, fear not, lieutenant colonel!" Jack jumped out, the Ghost Gloves on his hands, "These babies may be Ghost Gloves, but they still pack quite a punch when used on us!" he started jabbing and fighting in the air, accidentally socking Alcala right in the gut.

---

The second day there passed by with pretty much nothing happening. Alcala had showed Danny, Sam and Tucker how to work the grenade launcher in case they had to man it. Although it had just been two days and this was the only time Jazz and his parents had really met The Box Ghost, Danny could tell that the little nimrod was driving them insane.

"...And beware," he was telling them, "for I am merely one of the foes of your son who have found ways to re-enter the realm of the living! You might say...we are a package deal!" he started laughing.

"If it weren't for the fact that we're on the same side I'd get the Ghost Gloves out and..." Jack mumbled the rest of his sentence.

"I am The Box Ghost!"

"STOP SAYING THAT!" Jazz screamed.

---

On the third day, things stayed quiet until after lunch. Jack was teaching the kids a card came while Maddie kept a watch on the road.

"Someone's coming!" she shouted. It was a Paranormalics van with a white flag hanging out the window.

"Hold your fire," Alcala said when he saw the flag. The van stopped in front of the fort, and a fat man walked out.

"Hello, up there," he sounded like he was from Wisconsin, "You're the resistance movement, yeah?"

"Yes. What do you want?"

"I got a parchment here, don't ya' know," he pulled out a piece of paper, "From the corporal who's in charge. Says here that you's got a chance to give up, and if ya' don't, then we attack and arrest ya' all. That's it," Alcala sped down the ladder to meet with Fountain, who had just come out.

"What's going on?" the crippled colonel asked.

"Paranormalics sent out someone to ask us if we want to surrender."

"I'm not going to."

"Neither am I."

"How many men are you sending to attack us?" Tucker called out to the agent.

"Oh, probably 70 men. We only left 10 in Amity since there ain't no ghosts in the town now. We should be attack ya' at 6:00 tomorrow mornin' with full force."

"Uh, guys?" Tucker looked down at the colonels, "You hear that?"

"No."

"Maybe we should give up..." he turned to his two friends.

"Forget it," Danny and Sam said together.

"Guys, we are going to be outnumbered worse than predicted and at an early hour in the morning! Don't tell me that doesn't scare you!"

"It does," Danny nodded, "But we can't give up."

"Why!?"

"One:" Sam said, "We have nowhere else to go."

"Two: I don't think we could trust them even if we gave up," Danny added.

"Three: This group is the only way we can help Danny out."

"Men!" Alcala shouted, "We've been given a chance to surrender. Colonel Fountain and myself are staying. Anyone want to leave, slip over the wall with your things now," no one moved, "Alright, let's give them an answer; fire in the hole!" the crew manning the grenade launcher went to work. This was no ordinary grenade launcher. It was computerised and could also fire bombs. A ghost grabbed a bomb, placing it inside, and it was fired off to the side of the van.

"So that means you're fighting us, right?"

"Yes, it means we're fighting you," Alcala ran back up to the platform.

"OK then. We'll tell the corporal. We'll be here tomorrow at 6:00 with 70 men," he hopped back in the van and drove off.

"70 men!?"

"That's what they said that I asked if you had heard," Tucker said.

"What about Amity?"

"They said there weren't any ghosts in the city so they could send most of their men out here," Sam said. Silence followed, "Aren't you gonna tell the men?"

"Don't think so," Alcala shook his head, "That's worse odds than they're all expecting."

"They'll find out sooner or later," Danny said, "Better let them know so they're at least a little prepared."

---

It took until evening for Alcala to make up his mind. All the men had settled down for the night, following dinner. Their commander walked out into the centre of the fort.

"Men," he said, "I have bad news. Tomorrow we'll be facing a force larger than expected. They're sending 70 men to face us," this drew some gasps and murmuring, "and they're likely better equipped than we are. Bottom line; we're doomed. Now I can't force any one of you to stay here; I'm not General Conrad. So, if you wanna leave, go ahead," five ghosts flew off. No one else moved, "Thank you, men. If you'll forgive me, I'll have to issue an order for everyone except Colonel Fountain to sleep at their post so as to be ready. The enemy comes at six."

---

Danny, Tucker, and Sam had fallen asleep almost immediately; Jazz shortly after. Now only a few adults and ghosts were awake, Alcala, Jack, and The Box Ghost among them. Alcala and Jack were up at the north wall, Alcala rubbing his hands together.

"Cold night tonight," he commented. Jack nodded and looked at his son. He and his friends had their backs against a large barrel, sleeping quietly. Sam's head was resting on Danny's shoulder. Jack laughed quietly.

"Jasmine has a picture of them sleeping like that in the Fenton Van somewhere," he said, "They've been terrified of it falling into the wrong hands ever since."

"I am The Box Ghost!" the ghost flew up, "And I challenge to two to a game of Old Maid!" he pulled out a box of cards. Alcala looked at Jack, who shrugged.

"One game," Alcala held up one finger, "Then we get some sleep."

---

Sam awoke early. The minute she noticed that she was leaning against Danny she shot up and moved off to the side. Calming down, she checked her watch; 5:57 a.m. No sentry was on guard. She ran over to Alcala.

"Mr. Alcala," she said nervously, "sir?" he slowly got up.

"What is it?" he yawned. She showed him the time, and he shot over to the wall. Several vans could be seen off in the distance, coming down the road.

"They're on us!" he shouted as loud as he could, "Here they come! Wake up, men! Get up! On your feet!" there was an explosion of movement throughout the entire fort. Sam jumped back over to Danny and Tucker, who had moved up towards the wall with Jazz and Maddie. Alcala ran over to the canon, and nearby, Jack's hand punched open the trap door to the equipment room. Fountain stood up in his bed, The Box Ghost flew to the centre of the fort with his boxes, and everyone else took their positions. A bomb was fired, and to everyone's surprise, at the sound of the bomb, the vans turned around to retreat.

"Yeah, you'd better run!" Tucker shouted, then turned to Alcala, confused, "Why are they running?"

"They didn't expect us to be ready," he assumed, "They're pulling back to re-organise and attack again."

---

"Gentlemen," the corporal in charge was saying, "The purpose of attacking at 6 in the morning was to take the enemy by surprise. So...HOW THE HECK DID THEY KNOW WE WERE COMING!?"

"Oh, I told 'em, don't ya' know?" the Wisconsin guy walked up, "Yeah, some kid asked, so I figured, 'better not be rude, just a kid,' and told 'em."

"Really?" the corporal nodded, trying to control his rage, "How nice of you..." he snapped his fingers. Two large men began pounding the living daylights out of the fat man.

"Hey!" he screamed, "Ouch! Hey, I only got one of those, don't ya know? Ooh...Owie!"

"Let's re-group and attack again," the corporal ordered, "Most of their defences were at the north wall. I want the vans to create a diversion while the men slip out the back and attack the south of the fort. Move out!"

---

The second attack began almost 15 minutes after the first. All the vans pulled up at the north wall, the roofs opening up to reveal a montage of weaponry. These were used to bombard the north wall, all the men inside the vans.

"Not much for courage, are they?" Jazz shouted over the fire. Of the 35 men, 18 of them were positioned at the north wall. The grenade launcher was on the eastern wall, but by the corner. Almost all weaponry was over there as well. Alcala had expected such an assault on this part of the fort as was occurring now. He did not expect the helicopter that was flying in, ropes hanging from it and men sliding down.

"Someone take out that helicopter!" he yelled. Danny went ghost, firing two energy blasts at the blades, causing it to make an emergency landing a few yards off the west wall. Now some agents were coming out of the vans, firing grappling hooks up onto the north wall. Seeing this, Alcala jumped down to the ground, running into his room. He pulled out an old Civil War sabre and rushed back up the ladder. He cut the rope, causing the soldiers scaling the wall to fall flat on their backs. Danny formed an ectoplasmic blade of his own and began to do the same. The grenade launcher fired off a bomb that made a direct hit on one van, destroying it. So preoccupied were they with this assault on the north wall that none noticed the soldiers slipping out of the backs of the vans, carrying the more advanced and large of the weaponry.

The south wall was the weakest point in the fort. Only three men were positioned there, armed only with lasers. On top of that, they were ghosts. No one anticipated an attack from behind; only Conrad moving up to reinforce them. Those few ghosts were half-tempted to move up to the north when one of them caught a flash of colour.

"Over here!" he shouted. It was too late. Three ghost-traps were fired, all hitting their target. A small missile launcher was soon positioned, loaded, and fired. Almost all of the south wall was taken out, finally bringing attention to the real threat zone. The centre, lower level of the fort was guarded by four men; two at Colonel Fountain's room, one by the door to the equipment room, and The Box Ghost. All began to battle the soldiers flooding into the centre of the fort; apparently they carried tranquillisers and human weapons as well, for one human soon lay unconscious with a dart in his arm.

"They've breached the south wall!" Alcala shouted when he noticed. Almost all the soldiers had moved out from the vans, which were now going around to the south themselves. Several men had begun jumping down into the centre to provide aide to The Box Ghost and the equipment guard, all that were left standing. Danny, his friends, and his family stayed up on the platform with Alcala, handling the few men still trying to make it over the north wall. Alcala spotted the grenade launcher.

"Let's turn it around," he motioned to it, "Come on!" all still on the platform moved over to it. One soldier made it over the north wall, grabbing Jazz from behind. Maddie socked him in the face, but was shot in the back with a dart, falling down to the ground.

"Mom!" Jazz looked over the edge before running off to help move the grenade launcher. In the confusion, the trap door to the equipment room was slammed shut.

"What's going on up there!?" Jack demanded. He then heard the sounds of soldiers trying to break in the room, "You!" he shouted to someone who had retreated inside, "Get out those Ghost Gloves and fight! _Those gloves are made for grabbin'!_" the soldier obliged, readying himself. Outside, the situation was becoming more dire.

"I am The Box Ghost!" the little nimrod was soon trapped. The few left on the platform had finally winged the grenade launcher, Sam trying to open the trap door.

"Get ready!" Alcala was soon silenced when a dart was fired into his shoulder. Before falling, he tossed his sword into the battle below; it sliced the corporal across the leg. Jack and Sam finally opened the door to the equipment room as Jazz fell. The few men left in the centre that belonged to the resistance stood between Paranormalics and Fountain's room. Inside, Fountain was on his feet, prepared to make his crutches into a weapon. Danny and Sam were all that was now left on the platform. Sam grabbed a bomb from Jack's hand and ran over to the launcher. A three-pronged ghost-trap meant for the last ghost was knocked aside, firing into her neck. Danny caught her before she fell to the ground. She loaded the launcher, set the target, and fired. Jack had jumped down, grabbing the gloves from the fallen user of them.

"_Banzai!_" he leapt foolishly outside. Fountain's door had been broken down, the colonel waving his crutches around viciously. Danny pulled the trap from Sam's neck.

"Sam?" he shook her gently; she was still alive. A dart hitting her arm insured that she was unconscious, though. Danny fired an energy blast into the soldier that shot her and looked around. He was the only one left to defend the fort.

"Here goes nothing," he murmured, and with a quick gulp of air, he jumped down into the centre of the fort, knowing only too well he had only minutes...more likely seconds...before he was taken down.


	7. To Delaware

Danny shook his head and slowly came to. His hands were cuffed behind his back, which was up against a support for the platform. Sam (her neck bandaged) and Tucker were nearby, also just coming awake. Most of the captured men were snapping out of their trances, up against the walls and cuffed. There were no ghosts; just a pile of ghost-traps near Danny. Why he wasn't in one he had no idea. He quickly picked out his parents, his sister, Fountain, and Alcala among the prisoners. Fountain and Alcala were facing the corporal, discussing something. Danny tried moving his hands around. There was something strange about his cuffs.

"Sam?" he whispered, in case there was a no-talking policy among prisoners.

"Hmm?"

"What kind of cuffs did they use on me?"

"Ordinary human cuffs..." she got it.

"Why would they use those on Danny?" Tucker asked.

"When they went around to cuff the prisoners, whoever cuffed me probably didn't notice I was a ghost in fighting," Danny quickly stopped talking as a soldier walked by.

"No talking," he said in a New York accent, "Now one of you is supposed to be a ghost-child. Who is it?" he pointed a laser at them. Danny slowly counted backwards in his head; 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

"Well?" the soldier asked. Danny went ghost, phasing through the cuffs and tossing them at the soldier's head. He kicked the laser out of his hand and caught it, shooting the tranquilliser out of the hand of another guard who had seen what went on.

"Ghost-child is free! The ghost-child is free!" the guard started screaming. Danny freed Sam and Tucker before flying off, kicking one guard into a barrel. The distraction was all that was needed. All the prisoners jumped up and attacked, resorting to kicking since their hands were all cuffed (Fountain couldn't really do anything, but he tried). Alcala knocked out the colonel and was soon freed by Danny.

"You know how to release ghosts from these traps?" he pointed to the pile; Danny didn't, "I'll take care of that, you get the men free!" they moved out. Danny could free the men with his ghost-powers and Sam had stolen some keys from a soldier; Tucker's glasses had been knocked off, so he was looking for those. Fountain soon had his crutches back and was using them for weapons while Jack pulled out the Ghost Gloves. Alcala bent down to the pile of ghost-traps, picking up one. He placed his finger on a small catch on the trap and moved it. Blue smoke poured out of the prongs, forming...

"I am The Box Ghost!" he shouted to a nearby soldier, "You cannot contain me within a three-pronged trap! Now tremble," he raised several boxes in the air, "as you are devoured by..." he read the label, "The Box Company of Chicago Illinois!" he brought the box down on the soldier's head; it didn't hurt, but he was dazed and confused. This situation was drastically different than the battle only minutes before. Several guards had gone back to the vans or to Amity, evening out the numbers. The elements of surprise also worked in their favour.

"Someone get out to those vans and get that equipment!" Alcala barked.

"Where's the Fenton Van?" Jack ran up, "The Fenton RV!?"

"Hid them in a room, Paranormalics probably got to 'em."

"I see them!" Jazz shouted. They were by the other vans, being examined.

"Don't damage the ones that are mine!" Jack shouted to the men heading outside.

---

The Paranormalics agents were lying in the fort, trapped by their own handcuffs. Every piece of equipment, weaponry, and supplies had been taken from them. The Fenton Van, Fenton RV, and the now-marked "Resistance" vans were headed south.

"General Conrad was coming up on a dirt road through the forest from Pennsylvania," Alcala told Jack over the walkie-talkie, "Just follow us to it."

"Yes sir, lieutenant colonel!" Jack saluted for no reason and shut off communications.

---

"Are we there yet?" Tucker asked.

"For the millionth time..." Sam looked about ready to crack, "...**_NO!_**"

"OK, I was just asking!" now he sounded annoyed. The drive had been going on for the past five hours with no stopping, and everyone was getting a little restless. Tucker was just the only one who'd been saying the same thing repeatedly ever since the clock struck the third hour.

"Are we there yet?" he said again.

"Mr. Fenton," the walkie-talkie went off, calming everyone's annoyance at Tucker. Maybe it was good news.

"Yes?"

"We noticed movement up ahead. We're going to stop here while Colonel Fountain and I go out to see who it is. Tell your wife and daughter. That's all," he went off. Jack forwarded the information to Maddie and Jazz and then stopped the van. All the vehicles around them did likewise. They could hear the sounds of doors opening and closing up ahead. Then they waited.

"Anyone got a deck of cards or something?" Tucker finally broke the silence, increasing the pain in everyone's headache.

"Tucker," Danny turned to his friend, "For five seconds...please be quiet," that managed to keep him quiet until Alcala walked over.

"It's General Conrad," he said, "He'd like to speak with you and your son. I'll tell the rest of your family," he walked off.

"Well, let's go, Danny," Jack hopped out of the car, Danny following. The general was standing just a few feet away from the van closest to him. Danny had heard his name on the news plenty of times, but had never seen him before. He resembled the picture of President Grant in his history book.

"You're Jack Fenton?" he said in a calm voice.

"The one and only," Jack took Conrad's extended hand.

"So you're Danny Phantom," Conrad turned to Danny, "Good to meet you. Since the only ghosts who've joined us are ones after some peace and quiet they've mentioned plenty of good things about you."

"Uh...thanks," Danny said, not used to hearing things like that, particularly from a U.S. general.

"We've decided it'd be best to stay in the woods as much as possible and only come out to small towns undercover," Conrad turned to Jack again, "We're setting up camp here for the night while I go over some things with Fountain and Alcala."

---

Camp had been set up quickly. Most of the men and ghosts had their own tents; Danny, Sam and Tucker decided to sleep in the Fenton Van. Conrad had his own private tent, where he was now discussing the next move to make with Fountain and Alcala.

"We're back up to 117 men, not counting the Fenton group and ourselves," Alcala was saying, "We outnumber the force in Amity if you wanna..."

"No," Conrad shook his head, "No, I've been doing some thinking. We're only against Bruce, not the country. We occupy any major city or town and we become full-fledged rebels. I think we'd better stick to attacking Paranormalics bases. Now I'm interested in where Bruce and his best men went off to. He's been fairly public about his activities, which gives us an advantage. I'm thinking there was something about that last base of The Order."

"You think it's still around?" Fountain asked.

"I do. The question is, where is it?" the sounds of a quarrel outside halted any further conversation. A ghost and a human outside had broken into a fight by one of the campfires, drawing a crowd. The humans watching cheered for their kindred; the ghosts for theirs (Jack was among the humans, earning him a glare from his wife). The fight was interrupted when a laser passed through the space between the two combatants.

"_That_ is _enough_," this was the first time in a long while that many of them had heard Conrad's voice be so harsh, "Who is responsible?"

"Traitor," the ghost glared and pointed at the human, "I heard him. Talkin' about how paranormal forces taint and corrupt us, our threat...all the things Bruce has spat out."

"As if you've never said anything negative about us..." the human was cut off.

"_Enough!_" Conrad shouted, "You are acting like children! Take them both to the prison tent, I'll deal with them later," a few men obliged, "There will be no more quarrels like this amongst ghosts and humans in this camp. And I mean_ none_," fittingly, the fire seemed to burn quicker to match his anger.

---

The next day, everyone moved out early, following the same dirt road. Jazz was now with Maddie in the Fenton RV; at Conrad's request, they had given the Spectre Speeder to one man who was to be a spy. They had been driving for about an hour when the cars started to stop.

"What's going on?" Tucker asked.

"Alcala?" Jack picked up the walkie-talkie.

"Some ghosts are flying around near us, don't know if they're hostile or not," he replied, "Danny, would you mind giving us a hand?" Danny could hear that. He went ghost and phased out of the van, flying over to Alcala and Conrad.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"A-ha!" one of the ghosts shouted to the others; they looked like mountain men, "The halfa _is_ here!"

"Hi," Danny called to them, "Uh, what're you doing here?"

"Some in The Ghost-Zone have suspected that the halfa might join up with this resistance movement to Paranormalics," the one who had spoken before replied, "As it is a worthy cause, and as it is an honour to meet you, we wish to join!"

"What do you think?" Alcala turned to Conrad.

"No reason not to trust them, and we need men," he shrugged, "Welcome to the Resistance, men!"

---

The rest of the day passed with little event, as did the night. The next morning, everyone set off again a bit later than before. Low on gas and food, Conrad decided to send some men into a nearby town to pick some up. Danny's group was among those selected, and Conrad himself went in, disguised. When they went into town, however...

"You General Gary Conrad?" several men walked up; it looked bad.

"What do you want?" the general asked.

"Request permission to join your resistance, sir," Conrad looked at them harder.

"Weren't you men in the raid on Fort Moon I carried out a couple years back in the..."

"The same, sir," all of them smiled.

"Welcome aboard, men."

---

It seemed that Danny and Conrad were figures that people wanted to work alongside with; over the next two days, more and more ghosts and humans came into camp each day. Soon the numbers reached 152, not counting Conrad, Alcala, or Fountain. This made accommodations in camp rather uncomfortable (which, fortunately, Danny, Sam and Tucker didn't have to worry about). The fourth day after escaping the warehouse, the Resistance had just entered Maryland and had begun to set up camp for the night.

"Finally!" Danny heard his dad shout.

"What's going on, Dad?" he asked.

"That spy fellow's finally back with my Spectre Speeder," he murmured. It was indeed coming down from above the trees into the clearing where the group had begun to set up camp. As soon as he landed, the spy rushed over to Conrad. They kept their tone down, but Danny could tell that this information was urgent.

"Men!" Conrad shouted once he had heard it, "We have just discovered the whereabouts of Ken Bruce and his men! The second base of The Order was not destroyed; it has been converted into a new headquarters for an operation that remains unknown to us. It's in Delaware. Have all your things ready with you tonight; the moment I see a single ray of sunlight, we drop camp and move out."


	8. The Endgame

The drive to Delaware meant going across the entire state of Maryland on the dirt roads of the forest. Conrad seemed anxious to get there as soon as possible, by nightfall if they could. Danny couldn't see what the hurry was, but no one questioned his order to stop for nothing. They finally made it to the state just before dusk. Camp was set up a good distance west from a large clearing up ahead, to the chagrin of most.

"Why here?" Tucker shouted, "Why here, of all places! There's that clearing right up there!"

"Tucker, we're not even sleeping outside," Danny said.

"...Good point."

"Danny?" Alcala opened the back doors to the van, "General Conrad wants you and your friends to meet him. I'll tell the rest of your folks," he left, closing the doors after him.

"What'd we do?" Tucker asked. Danny and Sam just shrugged.

---

"I suppose that some of you are a tad upset that we're camped out in the forest rather than in the clearing right ahead of us," Conrad said. All of Danny's group had been brought over, and they now stood around the campfire, Conrad sitting on some old crates.

"Yeah, you'd better believe it!" Tucker quipped. Conrad raised an eyebrow.

"But you're sleeping in your van."

"...Good point."

"There's a reason why I didn't want us over there," he said, "You see, that clearing holds the entrance to the second base of The Order. When our spy found it he noticed some cameras hidden all over watching the clearing," Sam and Danny exchanged "so that's it" looks while Tucker started to get nervous.

"So why did you wake us up to come over here?" Jazz had been annoyed since Alcala came to get her.

"We outnumber Bruce's men by a large margin, but all their weaponry is designed to take out ghosts specifically. They make up a good number of our forces and with some of the more advanced equipment he has, they'll get taken down quick. And we still don't know why Bruce left this base intact. That's what I want to talk to you about."

"Huh?" Tucker thought this made no sense, and Danny had to agree. He couldn't see where this was going.

"If the Paranormalics forces are distracted by a conflict within the base, the risk of our ghosts being killed won't be so high. For some reason, Danny, they seem particularly interested in capturing you. If you go in and provide a distraction with your friends and family as protection, then we can move in and..."

"Now hold on a second!" Maddie spoke up, "You can't put something like this on Danny and his friends! They're just kids! And if you think..."

"I'll do it," Danny said.

"_What!?_"

"Now that you say that, your mother has a point. Are you agreeing because you think you have to, or because you're actually willing to do this?" Tucker started murmuring "please pick the first one" as Danny thought it over.

"The second," he replied. Tucker moaned, "But since you let me choose, you should let my friends do the same."

"Well there's no way you're going in there yourself!" Maddie quipped.

"I'll start packing the ghost-gear," Jack and his wife both moved off to their tent.

"I'm in," Sam said; Jazz just shrugged and went over to her parents. Danny and Sam turned to Tucker.

"What!?" he complained, "I'm thinking!" he thought for another few minutes, "I'm in," he sighed.

---

Danny, Sam and Tucker sat in the Fenton Van, one of the inside lights on. Tucker was messing around with his hat in the back while Danny and Sam sat in the front seats.

"I just remembered," Sam said, "A week ago at school when they showed that news report about the state of emergency passing...they said something about a white light over Delaware."

"Hey...yeah, I remember that now," Danny sat upright, having been leaning against the wall before, "It's gotta have something to do with why Bruce didn't destroy the place already."

"Can you guys save the detective work for when we get in there?" Tucker yawned, "I'm trying to go to sleep."

"Oh yeah," Sam nodded, "We're all going to have to wake up early, so we'd better get some shut-eye," she stretched herself out and lowered the seat back, closing her eyes. Danny looked out the front window. His dad and Conrad were talking, sharing some last words on the plans for tomorrow. At least that's what he assumed they were discussing; he couldn't hear them. He looked down at his hands. Something seemed very wrong. He'd fought Paranormalics before plenty of times, and had never felt so strange...

"Danny?" Sam had sat back up, "You OK?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he smiled, lowering his seat back, "Good night."

"Good night," they both lay down.

---

Bruce sat at his computer in the control room early the next morning, adding something to his files. Nearby were all the security cameras. Most of them showed inside the base, but four were fed images by cameras carefully placed outside. All had been there when Paranormalics had taken the base. The man on duty at that area was eyeing one of the cameras showing the outside area suspiciously. The fourteen-year old boy wasn't the first person to take a walk across the clearing, but something seemed strange about this one...

"Sir, there's someone in the field and I don't think he's just out for a walk," he said. Bruce walked over.

"Where?" the soldier pointed to the camera. Bruce eyed the figure for a moment, then smiled and chuckled quietly to himself, "Send some men up to get him. Use both man and ghost weapons."

---

"Hold it, kid!" Danny turned around. Several men had come up from a hole in the ground. They had both guns and lasers aimed at him, the one who had spoken grinning. Danny returned the grin, confusing them. He phased through the ground, re-appearing inside the tunnel that the soldiers had climbed up to get outside. He grabbed the door leading outside and slammed it shut. Upon hearing the sound, all the soldiers whirled around to find they were kicked out of their own base.

"_Banzai!_" a voice said from behind them. They whirled around in time to see Jack Fenton's gigantic form crashing down on them, armed with the Ghost Gloves. Danny waited for the sounds of combat above the surface to fade away before he opened the door again. Jack was standing over the soldiers, victorious. He moved over to head down the hole, but as soon as he started...

"I'm stuck!" he shouted. Danny sighed and started pulling on his dad's legs, Jazz and Maddie pushing down on his shoulders. He managed to get inside; everyone else managed to get in with no problem. As soon as they got into the first room, Danny took out the security camera.

---

"Sir, the security camera's dead in the entrance," Bruce looked at the said screen. Sure enough...

"Have the fresh troops secure the cave," he grabbed a communication device from off the table, "Sergeant? Gather the original 20 men and meet outside The Endgame. Move for nothing and no one; not even me," with that, he dropped the device and ran out of the room.

---

"So far, so good," Tucker said, looking around.

"Shhhh," everyone turned to him. Danny slowly opened the next door. In front of them was a large cave, lit by green lights. The floor had been smoothed and sloped, and all the stalactites and stalagmites were gone. There were several trenches and shields within the cave, behind which a massive number of Paranormalics agents stood.

"That is definitely more than 20," Danny said quickly before flying into the cave, drawing in the soldiers' fire. Jack charged in, shouting off who knows how many battle cries. Maddie was a bit more cautious, running in, firing, dodging to the side, and firing again. Sam and Jazz did likewise; Tucker stayed by the door, firing off random shots with his eyes closed tight and head turned off to the side. There were too many men for them to hope to win, but when a loud siren went off, all the soldiers ran off out of the cave and into the next room. Seeing this, Tucker stood triumphantly.

"Yeah, you'd better run!"

"What was all that about?" Sam spoke the question on everyone's mind.

"Dunno," Danny touched down on the ground, "Dad, shouldn't we contact Conrad about there being more soldiers than they thought?"

"Good plan, son!" Jack pulled out a walkie-talkie.

---

"How many do you think there were?" Conrad asked; he had just heard the news.

"About 60, 70..." Sam's voice took over.

"I'm thinking that while we were in the woods some of the men in Amity moved down here," Danny added.

"Probably," Conrad sighed, "You'll have to hold them off longer now; this changes everything. Thank you for the information again, and good luck," he shut off communications and turned to Alcala and Fountain.

"So what now?" Alcala asked dryly.

"First thing's first," Conrad stood up, "Men!" he shouted, "I have just been informed that the Paranormalics agents inside that base number far more than 20! I want the equipment manager Fountain chose in place of Jack Fenton over here at once to discuss the situation!" a tall ghost ran over from a group including The Box Ghost; they had been playing Old Maid.

---

"Is this some kind of office?" Tucker looked through some scattered papers on the floor.

"It used to be, anyway," Sam looked around, "Looks like this place got looted."

"And Bruce never bothered to get someone to clean up," Jazz shook some junk off her foot. Jack broke down the door with the Ghost Gloves.

"Uh, Jack dear?" Maddie smiled weakly, "There was a handle. You didn't need to do that...and make a large noise..." Jack just looked confused. Maddie sighed, "Never mind."

"Onward!" Jack declared. They were in a long hallway. At the end, it split into two hallways going in opposite directions.

"I say we go left," Tucker said, "The right's always where they expect you to turn."

"We'll flip a coin," Jack took off the gloves and pulled one out of his pocket, "Call it!"

"Heads," it landed on tails.

"We go right!" Jack slipped the gloves back on as Tucker moaned. Before they could go anywhere, however, a laser was fired from the left hallway. Five soldiers were grouped there.

"Told you we should've gone right!" Tucker said. Danny flew over to the soldiers, landing a deep kick into the gut of the one standing up. He knocked them all out soon as the others headed down the hallway. Before he could catch up, however, an ectoplasmic door closed off the hall. They noticed.

"Keep going!" Danny said, "I'll fly down this hallway and see if there's a way to cut over!" he did so, and the others kept going...except Sam. Something seemed strange. She stared at where Danny had been a bit more before running off to catch up with the others.

---

Danny tried to make a turn into another hallway, but an ectoplasmic door closed it off. Two groups of soldiers were coming at him from different directions. A strange green shield moved across the entire ceiling and floor. Danny landed, prepared to fight, but he could tell he was outnumbered right away. He was caught.

"Not again," he sighed.

---

Bruce watched as Danny was brought into his office. He had been cuffed to a device strapped to his chest, preventing him from getting loose. He was shoved into a chair on the opposite side of Bruce's desk from the Paranormalics chief. The soldiers left, leaving them the only ones in the room.

"Danny Phantom," Bruce nodded, looking him over, "For someone with your reputation, you get captured rather easily," Danny didn't even dignify him with a look of shame. He may have been captured again, but he wasn't letting them mess with his head this time.

"Frost and I went back a long way," Bruce stood up, walking the length of the room, "She entrusted me with things that not even her men knew. The file on you that The Order stole seems lost forever, but before her death, she sent it to me by computer. I know all about you and your little girlfriend," Danny rolled his eyes. Did _everyone_ get that wrong?

"So when you found out you attacked me at my own school for revenge," he said sarcastically, "How surprising."

"Not for revenge, Danny," Bruce smirked, "When we first came to this lair, our plans were to destroy it. I ordered my men to begin setting charges as soon as we had taken the main hallway. Then I discovered Velkan trying to destroy a very interesting machine in a very interesting room," he walked over to his drawers, grabbing a folder off of the top of one, "Despite his valiant attempts, he failed. Velkan now is no longer a problem for anyone. He had a file of the machine with him. It's called The Endgame, and it emits a special energy meant to poison and slowly destroy whatever species the machine is set for...humans, for example," Danny knew Velkan was misguided enough to try something like that, but he couldn't help his jaw from dropping, "Horrible, yes. The machine was only half-built. However, it suddenly occurred to me that this machine could prove very useful. All it'd take would be some design modifications and it could be set to target ghosts. Thus, this his now headquarters for Operation: Endgame."

"And this relates to me how?" Danny asked, waiting for some chance to escape.

"Velkan's files state that the machine needs to be powered by a ghost, and that hybrids are more a more favourable power source than pure ghosts. The ghost of one our workers volunteered to test the machine to see if that was true..."

"The white light over Delaware," Danny muttered, cutting Bruce off.

"Correct. As it turns out, the file didn't lie. Then I remembered you. Of course, you may be too young and your powers too undeveloped to fully meet our needs. Possessed hybrids are more unstable. The ghost of one of our workers produces seeds similar to Volpe's and one of them," he pulled out a strange-looking gun, "is in this ejection gun. Very kind of you and your girlfriend, coming into our base so willingly. And then she still might be too young. If that ends up the case, we'll turn to the hybrid kind enough to send The Order flying into our hands; Vlad Plasmius. You've heard of him, haven't you? "

"I've fought him."

"We've sent him one of these," he held up a metallic headband, "anonymously, of course. The only thing that can save a ghost from The Endgame. We have more for the ghosts of our men who still work for us. Of course, if Mr. Masters hasn't the sense to be prepared and wear it all times as we suggested, then we'll have to find another. There's only one way to know if we'll even need him," he snapped his fingers. The soldiers who had brought Danny in grabbed him, forcing him up and out of the room. Bruce calmly followed.

---

"No sign of any of those Paranormalics lackeys," Jack looked around, "And with Conrad still presumably outside considering the best course of action...it's grown dull in here," he slumped.

"I'm with Mr. Fenton," Tucker dropped his laser, "I'll bet Danny's having all the fun!" he noticed Sam's attitude. She was the only one of them not bored; she actually seemed unusually tense, "Sam?"

"...Something's wrong with Danny," she finally said, her voice shaking.

"How do you know? He's not even here!" Tucker then remembered a similar situation when The Order had kidnapped Danny, "Is it that psychic connection thing again? Man, I wish I had something like that!"

"Come on!" Sam took off down the hall.

"Where're you going!?" Maddie shouted. Tucker shrugged and followed, as did everyone else.

---

The ectoplasmic door removed, Danny was dragged down the right hallway. About halfway down, they stopped at a door guarded by 20 men. Bruce hit the green button on the control panel by the circular door, and it slid open. Danny stared in amazement at the dark, enormous half-circle that made up the room. The most strange and bizarre wires and electrical devices hung from and were mounted on the walls. A large, old-fashioned looking control panel was built into the base of the wall and floor, and in the centre of the floor, there was a raised platform surrounded by two large rings. What looked like places to strap a person into the machine were on the frame on which the rings were attached. A long pole went up from the top of the frame, eventually branching off into wires going into all directions, attaching to some gadget or another.

"Welcome," Bruce smirked, "to The Endgame. Put him in," he ordered dryly. Danny was pushed up to the platform. His legs were strapped in first. The device on his chest was removed and his cuffs taken off, but his arms were strapped in before he could get away. He watched in frustration as Bruce pushed some buttons and moved some levers on the control panel. The rings slowly started to circulate. They were so slow Danny thought that snails probably moved faster, but he was sure they'd speed up.

"If you're worried about your own fate, then don't," Bruce said before he left, "The energy starts from this room but doesn't effect it. This machine will only make you too weak to move once all's done. I'll spare you," he grinned, "for a later date," with that, he closed the door, leaving Danny alone in the room. Slowly the rings began to move faster and faster, and the faster they moved, the heavier Danny's breath got and the more nervous he became. Electrical sparks started flying out through some of the machines. Within a few minutes, the rings moved so quickly that they just served as a slight blur to Danny's view of the door; not that it was much to look at. Danny felt the clamps on his hands and feet tighten and his posture become more rigid, and then all the energy in his body seemed to explode upward. The inside of his body seemed like it was on fire, and the sheer force of everything going up was enough to draw out a yell. Sparks exploded from all over the room as electricity surged through the wires and into the machines. The areas around those machines began to glow, but Danny was now just struggling to keep his eyes open...

---

"Sam, don't you think you're overreacting?" Tucker looked bored again. They had gone backwards and found nothing, "There's nothing here."

"Exactly," she pointed down the hall, "There was an ectoplasmic door there last time we were here. That's why Danny couldn't get to us, remember?"

"So he probably found a way to turn it off!"

"So where is he?" Tucker was about to open his mouth when a strange electrical sound came from in front of them.

"You guys here that?" he asked. No one answered; they were too distracted. A strange glowing white light was flowing outwards from a room halfway up the hall, filling the base. It passed right through them but left them unharmed (though it did scare the heck out of Tucker).

"What the heck is this?" Jack looked around; other than that everything now had a silver tint, nothing was out of the ordinary.

"...A strange white light over Delaware," Sam muttered to herself. This had to be what that was. She looked back up at the door, "Danny, where are you?"

---

Alcala slapped a fly crawling on his face.

"We about ready to move out?" he asked.

"Just about," Conrad nodded, "Just need to...what the heck is that?" he pointed to the clearing. What looked like the top of a dome of white light was coming up from the ground. It continued to come up, and it was already large enough that it reached over to the campground. Conrad watched as it rose up into the air, giving everything a silvery tint.

"That all it was supposed to do?" Alcala asked rhetorically.

"Looks like it..." Conrad looked back at his men. The humans were as confused as he was, but the ghosts had a very different state of mind. At first the pain was just a minor annoyance, like a brief headache or an itch that won't go away. But soon it grew, and it went from bad to worse, and worse to worst. Their long, painful moans carried throughout the forest, growing more and more unbearable.

"I am The Box Ghost!" the little nimrod shouted, "And I am in increasingly growing pain!" with a proper energy source now, this strange light grew much faster than it had one week ago. Already most of Delaware was covered, and it was spreading fast.


	9. All at Risk

Back in Amity Park, the Fenton household was a wreck. Before going off to Delaware, Paranormalics had searched the place top to bottom, looking behind and through everything. Fortunately, they couldn't manage to break into the lab. The Ghost-Zone Portal was left fully functional as always, ready for when Jack came back to try and figure out how it worked. The energy wave from The Endgame was now consuming Amity. The minute it hit The Ghost-Zone Portal, it began to flow into that realm...

---

Skulker sat in his lair, surrounded by cages filled with things rare and unique. One cage sat on the desk in front of him, and he stared into it, a nasty grin on his face.

"Ah," he sighed, "A _Nanotyrannus_ ghost. A little-known cousin of the tyrannosaur. Welcome to your new home," a strange noise distracted him, "What is that?" he ran outside. A strange white glow was approaching fast.

"That light," he squinted, "So dazzling, so...bright," he watched as it passed over and through him, leaving everything with a silver tint. As it touched him, he began to feel strange. It started off as a brief aching throughout his body; he'd been having that problem lately. But he soon knew that it wasn't a brief pain. It intensified, causing sparks to fly out from his armour. It was getting hard to stand and his vision slowly blurred.

"_What is this!?_" he cried out to no one, dropping to his knees and throwing his hands up to his head. His armour was going crazy, forcing him to lean back as it grew worse. The wave of light continued through The Ghost-Zone, sending all into a panic. The girl desiring to go to the ball became a dragon from the confusion of what it was, her howls echoing all over. Desiree was halted in mid-flight as she searched for one with a great desire. Walker and his ghost-guards dropped where they stood, as did the prisoners. The energy kept on spreading through The Ghost-Zone, seeping through all the cracks in the doors and continuing on Earth.

---

Vlad struggled to make his way over to the package, where the headband still lay.

"Traitors…" he muttered. Why hadn't they let him know when The Endgame would be fired?

"This is what ya' get for bein' evil, don't ya' know?" the ghost of the Dairy King flew down, obviously suffering as much as Vlad.

"It's happening to you too!" the hybrid managed to say.

"Yeah, but I'm just an unfortunate victim of circumstance. You actually deserve..."

"Shut up and get out my..." he couldn't finish his sentence. The pain was too much. He slowly tried to make his way over to the table where the package rested.

---

Danny didn't know if the force of his energy being pulled out of him was as great as the pain of the ghosts The Endgame was poisoning, but he doubted it. The energy was leaving him in sudden bursts and surges, though he could constantly feel something being drained. The next surge happened, sending sparks shooting out from all of the machines.

"Have to get loose..." Danny muttered through clenched teeth, "But how!?" he then remembered, "This thing only runs on ghost power...that's it!" Danny closed his eyes, but with everything being drained out of his body, he could barely focus. As soon as he tried to change back, another surge of life went out from him. He couldn't even form the two blue rings. Only certain strands of his hair went dark.

"Must...change...back," he muttered before a yell was drawn out from him, more energy leaving his body. His eyes closed tighter, his body becoming more tense. Parts of him began to glow blue, peeling away at his ghost form to reveal his normal self beneath. He kept trying, and his efforts managed to lessen the severity of the next loss of power. The sounds caused by all the machines began to die down. Danny kept as focused as he could, slowly coming back to his true self in an unusual but effective manner. Finally, with a sudden burst, he was back to normal, the clamps opening and the rings halting abruptly. Danny collapsed to the floor, coughing and unable to move. The strange glowing energy of The Endgame; at this point having spread into the Midwest and well into the Atlantic; vanished strangely, quickly being sucked back in.

---

"What the heck just happened?" Fountain muttered. The silvery glow that tinted everything just a moment before had vanished, as if sucked back to whence it came. Conrad shrugged and looked back at his men. Some ghosts were unconscious, and all were in no shape to fight, but they would be fine, and were slowly recovering.

"Jack?" he pulled out his walkie-talkie.

"Talk to me, General!"

"Any idea what that light was?"

"Not a clue. Came from a room near us."

"Where's Danny?"

"An ectoplasmic ghost-wall separated us. He said he'd find a way around and we haven't seen him since."

"Find him. Whatever that was, it started to kill off the ghosts in our camp. And keep distracting the soldiers while you're at it. We'll let the ghosts recover and enter the base in..." he checked his watch, "two minutes."

---

"You heard the man!" Jack shouted, "Let's move!" they all ran down the hallway, turning at the first left turn.

---

Danny slowly got up on his knees, still out of breath. He had heard footsteps a few seconds earlier, but they were gone now.

"Sam..." he said to himself between gasps. Bruce wasn't one to waste time from what Danny saw, "I've gotta warn her!" going ghost, he tried to phase through the wall, but slammed into it head-first, collapsing to the ground.

"Shoulda guessed," he muttered as he got up, rubbing his head. He noticed another control panel like the one by the door outside. Danny hit the green button, and the doors swung open.

"If I wasn't still dazed from being in that thing I would've seen that in the first place," he flew off.

---

Bruce calmly opened a drawer in his desk shortly after the glow from The Endgame vanished. Danny must have been too young and his powers not developed enough. Hopefully his girlfriend, being more unstable once infected again, would prove more adequate as a power source. He grabbed the injection gun, placed it in the inside pocket of his overcoat, and walked out of his office.

---

Jack and the others were about to turn again when Sam signalled for them to stop. Around the corner was a large group of Paranormalics agents, looking around for them.

"What do we do?" Maddie whispered.

"Run?" Tucker asked hopefully.

"**_BANZAI!!!!_**" Jack charged into the group of soldiers, the Ghost Gloves charged and ready.

"I guess that answers that question," Jazz sighed.

---

The door to the base blown up by a bomb, the Resistance forces charged into the base. The guards had broken up into small, scattered groups, easily captured or defeated.

"Find the Fentons and their friends!" Conrad shouted to his men as they ran down the halls.

---

Danny could hear the sounds of combat all over the base.

"Looks like Conrad and those guys finally got in here," he said to himself, "I'll take a shortcut to the action," with that, he phased through a wall, and found an interesting room. The headbands that Bruce said protected ghosts from The Endgame were lying all over, on tables or in boxes.

"This might be a good room to remember in case..." he didn't want to think about the next part of the sentence. He flew off again.

---

Some members of the Resistance managed to find Jack and the others just as they were about to lose. The area of combat in which they duelled was right in front of a plain-looking door. Behind it was the darkest room in the entire lair; there was just one single light bulb hanging in the centre of the ceiling. A railing warned those in the room of a steep fall into the area in which all the generators were kept. These were the power source for everything in the compound. Large tunnels let cables from the rooms all over the base into the room. The generators created a quiet whirring sound. It was in this eerily lit room where Bruce was lying in wait for the opportune moment. He had placed the seed into a special cylinder that would fire from the injection gun into the target, and then send the seed into the bloodstream. He opened the slit in the door, looking out. Sam was nearby, in clear view, backing up towards the door. Bruce smirked, pointing the gun outside. A sharp punch to his face was all that prevented him from pulling the trigger. He was blasted into a corner by an energy blast, dropping the gun in the process. Danny shoved him up against the wall further.

"...Impossible," Bruce managed to spit out in disbelief.

"When you were finishing that machine you should've added something to keep me from changing back into a human," Danny said dryly.

"No matter," Bruce said, "Your girlfriend should be too unstable to think of that."

"Conrad and his men are in the base," Danny didn't bother to correct him about Sam, "Your men are being distracted by my family, and you're trapped. You guys can't win."

"It seems you've managed to pull yourself out of hopeless predicaments before; perhaps I shall be able to do the same."

"It's over, Mr. Bruce."

"You know something, Danny?" Bruce's voice seemed almost mocking in tone, "You're absolutely right," he shoved a laser into Danny's left shoulder, firing. Now free, he grabbed the injection gun off the ground and moved over to the door. Danny, seeing what he was about to do, jumped to his feet and knocked Bruce's hand away from the door just as he was about to fire. Bruce stared into space for a moment, then looked down. The cylinder had fired into his arm. He stumbled back in disbelief, his head burning. Indistinct, painful images flashed across his vision, and he began shaking more and more violently as he backed up towards the railing. Danny saw that he showed no signs of stopping.

"Watch out!" it was too late. With a yell, the Paranormalics chief fell down towards the generators, Danny running over to the railing. He hadn't heard a crash and it was too dark to see anything. That changed when something slammed into him, knocking him back. It then fired a flame-like energy blast at him, which burned into his ribs.

"Great," he muttered, getting down on one knee, "Same places I got hit at Halloween," he looked up at the figure who had attacked him. It was Bruce, in the same strange form that Danny had seen Sam take on months ago. His skin was white, his hair green and flame-like, and he wore flowing black robes. The key difference was that Bruce still seemed to be fighting off the loss of all sanity that came with such a form. Danny knew Sam had managed to fight it off once, but he didn't expect that Bruce could right away. Bruce's skin varied from being pure white to gaining back its natural colour for a few moments until finally he gained definite form. His clothes stayed the same, but his skin was its normal colour and his hair blue. He turned to the door, and Danny did the same. Conrad's voice was shouting that they had the soldiers on the run, and the sounds of combat faded away. Smirking, Bruce flew out of the room. Danny followed as fast as he could, but his injuries prevented him from moving very quickly. He just barely managed to catch Bruce turning down the hallway that led to The Endgame when an ectoplasmic wall cut him off from following.

"The Endgame..." he muttered, "And all the ghosts fighting with us are in the base!" he phased through a nearby wall, now trying to find the group.

---

"Cease fire!" Conrad shouted, "We have them on the run! Let's try and find Bruce and men of higher rank. Until they make a confession we're still viewed as hostile enemies by the nation!" everyone turned to leave when Danny popped out of a wall, sweating heavily and gasping for breath.

"I need every ghost to come with me now!" he said before Conrad could greet him.

"Why?" Tucker asked.

"_Now!_" Conrad nodded, and all the ghosts flew off with Danny.

---

Bruce locked the door to The Endgame once he was inside the room. He was still fighting off his new form's maniacal urges, but managed to set everything in place on the machine. He strapped his legs in first, and once his arms were in, the rings began to rotate.

---

Danny led all the ghosts into the room where he had found the headbands.

"Put these on!" he said urgently.

"What is the purpose of wearing such headgear?" The Box Ghost asked.

"**_Just put 'em on!_**" they started to do so, but not that quickly, "**_Hurry!_**" they obliged, but were beginning to become annoyed. Danny just managed to get one on himself when the glowing light from The Endgame passed through the room. All the ghosts were amazed that they didn't begin to get poisoned again.

"Come on," Danny opened the door, and they all flew out to meet back up with Conrad and the humans.

---

"So this is The Endgame," Conrad looked at the circular door in front of them. The glow seemed to come from the room, seeping out through the cracks like vapour.

"It creates energy that poisons whatever it's set to kill," Danny explained, "The Order was gonna use it on humans, and Bruce made it to work on ghosts," he hit the green button on the control panel, but nothing happened, "Bruce must've locked himself in."

"Why?"

"He needs a ghost hybrid to power it. He accidentally infected himself with a ghost-seed," Sam winced at the memories that brought, "and he's probably powering it himself."

"Wait a minute," Jack walked up, "Ghosts are human spirits, correct?"

"Right," Conrad nodded.

"Until we die, our spirits are inside our bodies," Jack went on, starting to pace the floor, "So if that thing is left on for too long, it's not just gonna poison ghosts. It's gonna start..."

"...To kill us," Conrad finished, turning back to the door in disbelief.

"...Whoa," Jazz stared wide-eyed at her father, "Dad, that was a well-thought- out, logical conclusion. And I agree with it!"

"Thank you, Jasmine!" when she saw that no one was looking, she pulled out a tape recorder.

"Note to self," she muttered, "Check files on Dad when you get the chance."

"Danny, did they use you to power it earlier?" Conrad asked.

"...Yeah," Danny sighed, "I got caught."

"So you saw them work the machine."

"Yeah..."

"Do you think you could shut it down?"

"I told you, the door's locked and it's designed so that I can't walk through it while intangible."

"What about the walls?"

"Don't know...there were these large holes in parts of the wall where cables were running out, maybe I can..." Danny tried to phase through the walls, but something kept him from doing so. He tried again, but couldn't do it. He tried it a third time and ended up messing up his bad shoulder even more.

"Looks like Bruce considered the chance that some ghost that was against him could get one of these headbands," Conrad pointed to the device on Danny's head, "They protect you, but keep you from using your powers."

"So I'll have to take it off and go in," Danny muttered.

"Is that safe?" Sam asked.

"The energy doesn't effect the room," Danny said.

"Then you'll have to do it," Conrad said.

"Now hold on..." Maddie started.

"Mrs. Fenton, the entire planet is at stake here," Conrad turned to her, "I have complete faith in your son's abilities."

"Ditto," Tucker smiled before taking The Box Ghost aside, "Any of those headband things left? Y'know, in case he doesn't do it and they work on humans?"

"There are a few left for usage," he said, "I am The Bo..."

"Alright, that's all I needed to know!"

"We'll try and find the sergeant or one of Bruce's officers while you handle the situation in there," Conrad nodded to the door, "Good luck."

"You too," Conrad and all the forces ran off...except one. Sam seemed reluctant to move. She felt extremely nervous for Danny, in a way she never had before.

"You OK?" she pointed at his ribs and shoulder.

"Yeah," Danny said, "Look...in case...something goes wrong in there," he pointed back towards the door, "...in case these work on people," he tossed her the headband, and immediately started feeling the effects of The Endgame. He still managed to smile at Sam, who returned it (though hers seemed more nervous).

"Good luck," she said, "You can do it," Danny turned, flew into the wall, followed a tunnel, and emerged inside The Endgame, jumping to the floor.


	10. Out of Time

Danny looked around. His vision having been blurred by pain and the rotating rings, this was his first good look at the inside of The Endgame while it was running. He had to dodge some sparks as a surge of energy left Bruce, who was strapped into the machine, his eyes closed. Danny ran over to the control panel and soon deducted that he couldn't turn it off that way.

"Now way I'm gonna figure out what these do," he muttered, "Looks like I'll have to get Bruce out of there," he turned to face the platform. Bruce managed to restrain himself from delivering a full-on cry of pain, though he could not suppress the occasional moan or two. Danny could tell when a surge of power left him by his slight twitching every few seconds. Danny slowly went intangible, going through the rings; they moved so quickly he couldn't risk running right into one or between them; and reached out to un- strap Bruce's left arm. An ectoplasmic barrier flew up from Bruce before he had another large loss of power, throwing Danny back through the rings and against the door.

"OK, this is gonna be a lot harder than I thought," Danny muttered, rubbing his head. He didn't notice anything strange about himself until he stood up. His suit was now white with black highlights rather than the other way around. Some hair hanging down over his eyes proved that his hair was black. One of the machines in the room was reflective enough for Danny to see himself clearly in. The whites of his eyes were black, his eyes purple, his pupils black. His skin was a strange shade of blue. His body had become a complete negative of the colours it should have been.

"What the..." Danny stared at his reflection in awe, then turned back to The Endgame. He phased through the rings again. He began loosening the straps again, and the moment his glove touched a part of Bruce, he began flowing into his body. In front of his eyes was a strange, black-and-white world, the only colour coming from a human Bruce. He quickly pulled back his hand.

"Was I just inside his mind?" Danny put his hand on Bruce's shoulder and began to get sucked into his body, the strange world flashing before his eyes again, "I was just inside his mind. I dunno why I always find out about these new ghost powers right when I need 'em, but I'm not complaining!" and with that, he flew right through the rings and straight into the Paranormalics chief. He reappeared in the same black-and-white world, his body back to its normal ghost form. There was no sign of Bruce.

"Looking for someone?" a strange, echoing voice called out, "You realise you are in my mind, don't you?"

"Yeah," Danny looked around, "And I can tell that you are one serious nut-case."

"Well this is what happens when someone knocks an injection gun into my arm and turns me into a possessed hybrid," the voice now had a hint of anger to it.

"Look, you need to shut down this machine now," Danny said, looking around for Bruce. The voice just laughed.

"What a fine, brilliant method of achieving such a goal," he was still chuckling.

"I'm serious! If it's left on for too long it's going to start killing people!"

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Yes!" then he thought about it; what proof did he have? "Actually...I don't."

"And I don't. So if you want me out of this machine, then you'll have to do it the hard way," Bruce appeared in front of Danny, in his human form. Yet he still floated like a ghost. He smirked slightly, and the entire world they were in changed. The sky went a violent red-yellow colour, volcanoes, rock ground, and rivers of magma springing up from nowhere. Almost like an illustration of Earth 4.6 billion years ago in a science book.

"What the..." Danny couldn't finish that sentence. Bruce flew up, ramming his knee into Danny's face. His eyes flashed, and a hot geyser of fire opened up from the ground, singing Danny's back. Danny managed to avoid a serious burn and took off as fast as he could, flying around shooting lava and burning rocks being thrown into the air.

"Run all you like, boy," Bruce's mocking voice called out, "I control this world; it is my mind, after all!" as he finished, an enormous wave of lava shot up from the river, ready to crash down on Danny. He put up an ectoplasmic barrier as quick as he possibly could and hoped that it protected him from more than just ghost powers. The melted rock oozed down all sides of the barrier. While most of it was held back, some of it managed to seep in, landing on Danny's bad shoulder and dripping down his arm. As soon as he could do so safely, he flew up, frantically knocking the magma off himself. He gained other worries as he felt something slam into the back of his neck. He whirled around and blasted Bruce in the face with an energy blast. As it hit and the Paranormalics chief fell back, the hostile land they were in seemed to calm. The sky became more dull. Some of the rocks began to fall away, and the magma cool. Bruce got his wind back fast, though, and everything fired up again. Danny didn't have time to figure out what that meant.

---

"Down this way, men!" Alcala shouted, motioning towards the main left hallway. Bruce's sergeant and two other men had just gotten away from them, after tossing some bombs at them and shooting a ghost in the foot. While Alcala's personal forces went after them with him, Conrad led the rest after a large group of soldiers who were trying to keep them away from a room with a large metal door. Besides the silver glow making it a bit harder to see right, the odds were in Conrad's favour. Soon the area was secured and the door broken down.

"The armoury," Conrad noted. Every ectoplasmic weapon imaginable lay scattered across these tables.

"Whoa," Jack's eyes bulged out, "Sure the heck beats the crud out of my equipment," he scratched his head, then placed his hand there as if suffering from a mild headache, "Anyone else feeling a bit dizzy right now?"

"Yeah...I am," Tucker rubbed his head, and then it dawned on him, "Oh no. It's starting! Danny must've..."

"_Don't say that_," Sam acted as if Tucker had just killed someone.

"We have no idea of knowing how complex The Endgame really is," Conrad said, "Thus, we do not know how long it would take for Danny to shut it off. I doubt Bruce is too keen on letting that happen anyway. The effects are mild now, so don't worry about it that much..."

"I say we get the rest of those headband things and hope they work on us!" the general's words did nothing to relax Tucker, "Box Ghost!_ Show me where that room is!_"

"I shall indeed lead you to the location. I am The Bo..."

"**_JUST DO IT!!!!!!_**"

"OK," he flew off, many of the humans following.

"Perhaps as some insurance it would be wise to get those things," Conrad headed down the hallway himself, though more reluctantly than others.

"Sam?" Jazz looked back at her, "You coming?"

"No," she answered. When everyone had headed off, she pulled out the headband Danny had given her. Strangely enough, she didn't care if she ended up having to use it. She had other worries on her mind. Her psychic connection was kicking in again. Danny was in a predicament he'd never been in before, and something was going wrong...

---

The reporter appeared calm, but a sharp eye could see in his eyes that something was amiss.

"The strange silver glow that came across the eastern part of the nation just a few minutes ago has returned, at a quicker speed," he said, "As before, we've been receiving numerous reports of ghosts falling from the sky or suddenly appearing in buildings, behaving as if poisoned and dying. And now it seems," he wince, putting a hand up to his head, "it seems that this phenomenon is beginning to affect us humans," President Hartman shut off the television. He too was beginning to suffer from the effects of this light.

"Bruce..." he muttered. His instincts told him that whatever this was, he was behind it.

---

Smoke and sparks were flying up and all over from Skulker's armour. Another explosion went off, almost causing his arm to separate from the rest of the suit.

"The light has returned..." he stated the obvious, "What sort of poison is it!?" another blow-out in his suit prevented further talking to himself. At the ghost prison, Walker's head was lying on his desk. He was barely awake, his lip quivering from pain. His guards and his prisoners were leaning against walls, bars and tables, some unconscious. For some ghosts, it was already too late. As the energy continued pushing further and further into The Ghost-Zone, the strength of the echoes of cries became more and more unbearable.

---

Danny crashed up against the rock wall, slipping to the ground. From nowhere a sword appeared in Bruce's hand, and he shoved it right into Danny's bad arm. He just managed to hold down his scream enough to keep Bruce from gaining any satisfaction. Once more the world changed. The sky went a dull blue-grey. Snow covered the ground, going up past Danny's feet, and more came down from the clouds. The wall of rock his back was leaning against disappeared, causing him to fall backwards, off the sword. The blade vanished from Bruce's hand. As Danny started to get up, he kicked him hard in the ribs; the ones already injured. He let Danny get up after that before socking him in the face over to the edge of a cliff. He readied his foot to deliver a kick.

"What's the point?" he sighed, putting his foot down, "That's a long enough fall for you to recover and fly back up here," that changed quickly. The ground below the cliff was raised to just a few feet below the drop, sharp, jagged ice crystals coming up out of that ground. Danny caught this just as Bruce knocked him off the side; he managed to phase through just fractions of a second in time. Bruce began to lift off the ground, readying a green flame in his hand. The minute Danny flew back up, he fired a continuous ectoplasmic fire at the ghost-child, sending him flying back even further.

---

Sam ran up to the door of The Endgame, the silver glow seeming to seep out even faster than before. Sam put one hand against the wall to hold herself up, catching her breath. The energy from The Endgame was starting to affect her stronger than before, but she didn't care. There was definitely something going wrong in there. She looked at the control panel by the door, but there were only two buttons; a red one and a green one. She tried hitting the red and then the green and hitting them both at the same time, but the door remained locked.

"Sam?" she heard Tucker's voice behind her. He came running up, a headband on his head, "You'd better get one of these headband things before...hey, how'd you already get one!?" he noticed the one in her right hand.

"Danny gave me his before he went in here," she said quickly, not bothering to turn and look at him, "We need to get inside this thing now."

"You said it! So much for Danny being a superhero. I would've had that thing shut down by now..."

"_Not that!_" Sam seemed more irritated by the joke than Tucker expected, "There is something going wrong in there!"

"More psychic connection stuff?" Conrad and Jack ran up, both wearing headbands.

"What's going on in there?" the general asked Sam. Before she could answer, Tucker spoke up.

"She says she and Danny have some weird psychic connection and that something's wrong with him," they could tell he was being serious. Conrad pulled out his walkie-talkie, diverting the subject away from the door.

"Wincat?" he said into it, "You alright?"

"Yeah..." he sounded like he was in pain, "This light is...it's starting to..."

"Work on us, yes. Head back to the main hallway, I'll have Jack show you where to go," he shut it off and turned to Jack, "Head down there, t ake them to the room. Are there any left?"

"Just a handful."

"We'll have to place faith in Danny then," he turned back to Sam and Tucker, Jack running down the hallway. Sam put on her headband and looked at the door again. She was feeling more and more nervous by the second, and what she could feel about Danny in her mind didn't calm her down any.

---

The world now nothing but a flat, snowy plain surrounded by grey, Danny had nowhere to hide. He was up standing, but out of breath and holding onto his left arm. Bruce flew above the air, grinning. He readied another blast of ectoplasmic flame and flung it forward. This time Danny managed to raise a barrier in time. It wrapped around the flame, forming a white-green ball that shot back at Bruce too quickly for him to dodge. It made a direct hit to his stomach, blasting him back for what seemed like miles. As this happened, the world slowly fell away, becoming the endless black-and-white realm that it had first been.

"Of course," Danny slapped himself in the forehead with his good hand, "Bruce is the creator of this world! If I hurt him, then it all falls apart! Now here comes the hard part," he watched as Bruce flew back up, enraged, "managing to do that with a bad arm and injured ribs," he fired off an energy blast, which the Paranormalics chief managed to dodge. He flew up, firing another blast of flame at Danny. It was again blocked, wrapped up, and fired back at its creator. Having already hit him, Danny flew in, kicking Bruce right in the jaw. The more blows he landed, the more this world seemed to fall apart. It began to crack like glass. Danny made one good kick, and a large chunk fell away, revealing a dulled pink.

"It's working..." he noticed the missing part, "It's working!" he flew in to deliver another blow, but before it landed, Bruce shot his hand out, catching Danny's foot. He fired something at Danny, but neither of them could see it. And it didn't hurt so much as it seemed to force him to move away. He was shot right out Bruce's mind, flying out into The Endgame and crashing into a mess of wires and one large machine. As the wires snapped and the machine collapsed to the floor, sparks went flying everywhere. Not just in the room, either. The disturbance ran along the cables and into one of the generators...

---

The ground shook abruptly and a sound similar to firecrackers came from behind The Endgame's door. The energy began to flow out slower and the glow on everything becoming more dull. Everyone's full attention was now at the door, Jack having ran over.

"What the heck was that?" he asked the question on everyone's mind. Alcala came over. The machine had not stopped poisoning anyone; far from it, in fact; but for all those unprotected, the pain had lessened severely. Humans now felt mild headaches or sores. Unconscious ghosts came to, though still dying. The blow-outs on Skulker's armour in The Ghost-Zone ceased. Walker's eyes half-opened. On Earth, Sam looked at the door with a renewed sense of hope. Danny seemed better, and The Endgame was weakening...yet something still seemed wrong.

---

Danny flew down to the floor, having only been singed by the explosion.

"OK..." he coughed, "That wasn't how I was planning on shutting this thing off, and I don't think it's a good way..." he noticed he was still in the same form that had allowed him to enter Bruce's mind the first time. Seeing this, he flew back in. On the previous time, Bruce's body had done nothing, save react violently to a loss of power or cringe when his mental body was hit. This time was different. Two sets of ghostly hands came out from his one, one pair gloved. His spasms became more violent, and not in reaction to losing his power. His arms and legs in particular suffered from this, as if trying to break free. The non-gloved pair of hands shot out again, a green flame in the right hand. The gloved hands knocked that hand away so that the flame fired into the frame of the platform. The rings were sent flying into the controls and into the cables in one of the tunnels. Now free, Bruce's body seemed to be flung forward, Danny; now in his normal ghost form; flying in the opposite direction. Both were out of control, and both slammed into more equipment. As Danny got his wind back, he caught Bruce flying right at him, knocking them both into the mess of wires above. Explosions, sparks, and smoke ran rampant throughout the room and into the tunnels that led to the generators.

---

As the silver glow from The Endgame finally vanished completely, the entire complex rocked. One tall man ran up to Alcala, gasping for breath.

"There's been a blow-out..." he wheezed, "in the...generators..."

"What!?"

"This place is gonna...blow," as he said that, there was an explosion within the wall behind them. Sparks and some rubber casing were all that was left of the cables. Conrad whipped out his walkie-talkie, setting it to his men's common frequency.

"Attention!" he shouted, "I don't care if that sergeant's been taken or not! This place is breaking apart, and I want everyone to get out of here on the double!" he turned to those with him, "Let's go!"

"But what about Danny!?" Sam pointed to the door. Conrad looked back-and- forth from it to her reluctantly.

"...We can't get that door open," he said.

"You've got bombs!"

"Meant to work on ghosts, not break through doors," Tucker and Jack looked at the door. Jack couldn't stand the thought of leaving his son behind, but...

"Can't we try?" Tucker asked before Jack could. Another, more intense explosion came from behind them.

"Now!" Alcala shouted it this time. They met up with a group of ghosts heading towards the main hallway. Tucker; and after a few minutes Jack; reluctantly followed; Sam stayed where she was, a look of disbelief on her face.

"Sam, let's go!" Tucker yelled. She didn't move.

"Samantha, he can phase his way out of there!" that didn't work either. Having no other choice, Jack grabbed Sam and hauled her off, despite her protesting.

---

Danny just barely managed to avoid flying sparks as Bruce cracked a loose piece of cable at him like a whip. The two had continued to duel, and Danny could tell that the base was falling apart. He was more worried about getting out. Bruce had gone back into the possessed hybrid form completely, losing all reasoning. He slammed into Danny and further extended this now pointless and dangerous battle.

---

Jack, Sam and Tucker met up with Jazz and Maddie the cage, Jack still having to drag Sam along.

"_Where's Danny!?_" Maddie asked frantically.

"We couldn't get the doors open..." Tucker was cut off.

"No one even tried!" Sam shouted.

"He's a bright boy. He'll probably phase through the tunnels or something..." another explosion went off, preventing Jack from finishing his words.

"Come on!" they responded quickly to Alcala's command.

---

The two combatants fired energy blasts at one another at close range, the explosion knocking them both back. Danny slammed against the wall and fell to the floor; Bruce became entangled in several wires connected to one of the few machines still intact, though it was liable to blow at any minute. These wires pulled him back towards the device. Trying to break loose, he fired off random blasts of energy; one of them went right into the machine. As the explosion surged through the wires and fell to the floor, it pulled Bruce with it, frying the Paranormalics chief from the outside. He landed, an electrocuted human. He could not have known it, but this was the same way that his friend Sarah Frost had perished...the first time, anyway. Danny slowly got up. A piece of metal had lodged into the controls to the door, opening it just wide enough for him to get through. He also noticed some support beams crashing down from the ceiling. He managed to slide out just before the exit was blocked. Outside The Endgame, it was raining sparks all over. Danny ran as fast as he could towards the main hallway as the explosions grew more intense, the generators about to completely go out...

---

The last of the men out, Alcala slammed the door shut, running off into the forest. A few moments later, the ground above where the last base of The Order once was collapsed down onto what was left of the compound.


	11. War's End

The once flat clearing now looked like the drop-off for a twister. The ground was now in jagged chunks, some smaller than others and lower than the forested land around it. Bits of concrete, large rods of metal, and some occasional sparks shooting out were all that could be seen of the base on the surface. There was a slight breeze blowing, creating an eerie whistling as it passed through the trees. All but one member of the Resistance stood just on the edge of the forest, exhausted from their scramble out of the compound.

"Everyone alright?" Alcala finally spoke. There were some quick nods, brief murmurs, and sighs of relief. Some slumped against trees, some sat down, and others stood, walking around until further orders were given. Sam looked out over battle-scarred clearing, her face showing both a look of disbelief and of denial. The Fentons seemed anxious, as if they half- expected Danny to jump out of the rubble like a dolphin. Tucker, not sure what to believe or feel at the moment, looked confused. Sam started to shudder involuntarily, her foot slipping into the lowered clearing. She stumbled forward a few steps, ending up completely in the open before rushing forward, dropping to her knees, and frantically beginning to dig through the rubble. Jack and the others just stared at her in awe.

"...Tucker, you help her out," Jack finally said, "Jasmine, you come with me and your mother," as Tucker went over to Sam, the three Fentons ran to the opposite side of the clearing, Jack throwing a large boulder to the side that just missed Tucker.

"Well, help them out," Conrad ordered, seeing that his men were doing nothing, "and try and find someone of rank in there while you're at it," everyone, man and ghost alike, ran into the battle-scarred terrain, even the general. The only one not digging was Fountain, for obvious reasons. Within a few minutes, several people were getting down to the floor, with no sign of Danny yet. Tucker tried to work as hard as he could, but he was still left amazed at how frantic Sam seemed to be. She'd been Danny's friend even longer than he had...and probably a better one, but he'd never seen her like this. She was working harder than anyone else, and Danny's parents were working pretty hard.

"Any sign of him, Maddie?" Jack threw another rock over his shoulder. Maddie had a ghost-tracker out, trying to pick up any signs of paranormal life.

"...There is something," she looked like she was about to cry, "But it's too faint to tell...it could just be some leaking laser fuel. Jack, I think he's..." she couldn't finish.

"...Keep looking," Jack said with some doubt in his voice, "He's in here somewhere," he helped Jazz shove a large rod aside. Meanwhile, Sam had gotten down to the floor herself, with no sign of Danny. She started digging again a few feet over to the right. Tucker stared at her for a few more minutes, then started to look around. The only sign of human life anyone had found was a piece of a soldier's uniform, and all the people digging pretty much covered all the ground around the area. Several had given up, and even the Fentons appeared ready to accept their son's fate...however reluctantly. Tucker looked down at Sam, who already was getting close to the floor again.

"Sam..." he started, not wanting to say what he was about to, "I...I think he's really..."

"_Don't you DARE say that!_" she spun around and shot a glare at him that looked so furious Tucker had to back up a few steps.

"I don't want to admit it either, but...look," he pointed behind her. She looked around; now almost half the men seemed dead-certain that Danny was dead, and even Maddie was starting to cry.

"He's not dead, Tucker..." Sam turned back to him, looking more in denial; he _couldn't_ be dead, "He's not...he's not...he's..." she finally looked away, not able to hold onto a sense of hope anymore. She felt sick, enraged, empty, and ready to cry all at once. Both she and Tucker couldn't remember a time when they hadn't been friends with Danny. And she couldn't remember a time after sixth grade where someone didn't regard her and Danny as a couple. Despite every time they had denied it, ever since the incident with Frost, it had been harder to buy that as fact herself. It had become impossible to imagine life any other way. If it changed now...if he was...

"He's gone," she finally whispered, as if no one was around to hear her, "He's gone, he's gone, he's..." she couldn't finish. Falling back against a large rock, she finally began to cry, unable to choke it back any longer. Tucker looked like he was about to start crying. He took his hat off instead, neither one of them fully accepting the fate of their friend, like it was just a bad dream. They could wake up, and this wouldn't be the end.

It wasn't.

There was a few feet between Sam and the next person digging. Between that space, only a ghost would have seen the intangible gloved hand reaching out from under a large slab of plaster, trying to pull the body out from the rubble. The hand finally became visible, showing a black suit with silver highlights. As the figure continued to pull himself out, the sounds of rock and plaster being misplaced caught Sam's ears. She looked over and saw Danny finally get himself out enough to breathe. Besides obvious injuries and being covered in dirt and dust, he looked as he always did in ghost-form. The same suit, the green eyes...but for some reason, his hair was its usual jet-black instead of being ghostly white. She didn't know or care why that was, and now that he had seen him, neither did Tucker. They ran over to help him get out all the way. Tucker, in his excitement, had forgotten about Danny's left arm being in such bad shape and grabbed it to help pull him out.

"Don't do that!" Danny winced.

"Sorry," Tucker smiled weakly. Danny did the same.

"Well, we did it," he laughed quietly. Sam hadn't said anything yet. She had just been staring at Danny, starting to cry again out of relief. That relief got the best of her. Sam; always the more adamant one about pointing out that their relationship was strictly platonic; kissed Danny right on the lips. Surprised as he may be, he didn't bother trying to stop it.

"...Sorry," Sam laughed nervously when it was over, "It's just..."

"No problem," he laughed as well, trying to get his legs completely out from under the plaster.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton!" Tucker shouted across the clearing, "Jazz! Over here!" they came rushing over, grabbing Danny in a many-armed hug. Across the ground, between two more digging sites, someone else came clawing out of the rubble. It was Bruce's sergeant. After brushing himself off, he turned around to find two lasers aimed at him, Conrad standing between the two men with a look of triumph on his face. The sergeant slowly raised his hands.

---

"The persistent anti-ghost demonstrations outside Washington have died down," this was the first good news for Danny the reporter had delivered in a long time, "as the last details of the resistance to Paranormalics have been made public. General Gary Conrad had led a force of a few hundred ghosts and men, including Amity Park's own Jack Fenton, who had previously obtained secret files from Sarah Frost with the help of his son, who had been exposed as a half-ghost child. The force tracked Ken Bruce down to the second base of The Order; it was in Delaware. It had not been destroyed as declared, instead being made into headquarters for an Operation: Endgame, an unauthorised attempt to destroy all forms of paranormal life. Bruce did not know that the device would eventually begin affecting humans as well. Young Danny Fenton managed to stop the machine, but the base began to cave in on itself. Bruce was electrocuted and crushed, but his sergeant survived and was interrogated. General Conrad has been restored to office as head of Paranormalics. President Hartman, who supported Conrad, has seen his approval ratings skyrocket from last week's 41 to an incredible 71 this week," Sam hit the power button on the remote. They were at Danny's house in his room. By the time they had gotten back from Delaware, it was Friday, and they had the weekend off for Danny to fully recuperate. His ribs had healed up, but his left shoulder was still pretty bad.

"Looks like that's one thing to cross off our worries list," Tucker smirked. Danny and Sam did so as well, but weren't as sure as he was.

"Let's see what happens when we go back to school," Danny said, some worry in his voice. They heard shouting from downstairs; Jack had also been watching the report.

"Take that, Wakeman! We'll see who denies who the right to equipment now!"

---

Casper High appeared completely deserted. Sam and Tucker's parents having apologised and renewed their children's privileges to be with Danny, all three had gotten a ride to school in the Fenton Van. Danny had asked for this in case there were still problems at school. It didn't look like they'd have anything today.

"Maybe it's a vacation day," Tucker said, "I lost track while we were gone."

"No, we have school today," Sam said. The loudspeaker went off.

"Daniel Fenton, Samantha Manson, and Tucker Foley are to report to the backstage of the theatre at once," Danny sighed.

"Let's go face the music."

---

When they got backstage, they found Mr. Lancer waiting for them.

"You wanted to see us, Mr. Lancer?" Danny asked nervously; Sam and Tucker were equally as intimidated.

"Ah, Mr. Fenton," their teacher smirked, "Here at last. Well, I suppose you're wondering why you're here," Danny nodded, "Well...Danny, I'd like to apologise for my behaviour the Monday after the dance. You've been my student long enough that I should know you better than that. If you had been cheating, your grades wouldn't still be Cs and Ds. I've corrected your grades, excused the three of you from all assignments you missed while away, and have cancelled Ms. Manson's detention...which she never attended," Sam laughed nervously.

"Well..." Danny was completely taken by surprise, "Thanks, Mr. Lancer..."

"Oh, no!" Tucker walked up, cocky, "You're not gettin' off the hook that easy! You don't want Danny to use his ghost powers on you, you'd better..."

"**_TUCK-KER!_**"

"Just kiddin'," Danny sighed in annoyance.

"I'm not the only one giving you an apology, you realise," Mr. Lancer grabbed the rope and pulled back the curtains. Everyone in their grade was gathered in the seats of the theatre, cheering. Dash, Quan, and some other students that were important to clubs or teams walked out from the shadows.

"I'm only doing this 'cause Lancer says I have to," Dash muttered to Danny, "You're all going back to below zero on the popularity scale by tomorrow. But for now," he smirked, though in a way expressing his annoyance, "Enjoy your fifteen minutes of fame," those minutes were soon interrupted when a familiar stupid figure flew out of a wall.

"A-_HA!_" The Box Ghost shouted. Danny sighed.

"Look, I know the Resistance is over, but could you please give it a rest for one day!?" he said.

"I am The Box Ghost! And you misjudge my intentions, young child! I come bearing gifts, not only from me and the other ghosts..."

"The other ghosts and me," Mr. Lancer got weird looks from everyone, "What? I'm an English teacher."

"...From me and the other ghosts," The Box Ghost continued, repeating his grammatical mistake, "that you fought alongside in the Resistance, but also from those who are often your foes! Gifts from Walker, Technus, and Skulker!"

"Huh? Well...thanks, but why?"

"The portal by which you send us back to our realm through your round cylindrical trap was functioning when The Endgame was activated. It began to poison the spirits within The Ghost-Zone as it did in this world! We who fought with you have told that you were he that stopped the device, and as such, now have the gratitude of all the ghosts! But beware, for I and the others will return to being your foes soon!" with that, several transparent boxes wrapped in bizarre wrapping paper and ghost material came out from the wall that The Box Ghost had come from, landing in a pile by Danny.

"Your gifts! Can I have the boxes?"

"Sure..."

"Excellent!" the little nimrod laughed stupidly, "Beware!" he flew off.

"Anyway," Mr. Lancer resumed, eyeing Danny's presents, "Since the last school dance was interrupted, Principal Ishiyama and myself were considering turning today into an all-day celebration. How does that sound to you?" everyone began cheering.

"Well then," Mr. Lancer smirked, pulling out his book, "'Let's get this dig going!'"

---

Danny, Sam and Tucker were the last students remaining in the building. The party had consisted more of touch football outside, conversation and food inside, and people asking Danny about what his powers could do that it did anything else. There was no dancing at all, so technically it didn't make up for Friday, but no one really cared. Danny had gone through all the presents he had received from the ghosts (The Box Ghost returned for the boxes). There were some interesting paranormal things he could give to his parents, some robotics from Technus and Skulker, and from The Box Ghost...a box.

"Well, it's the thought that counts," Tucker had said. Now they were in the gym, laughing, Mr. Lancer came up behind them.

"You want something, Mr. Lancer?" Danny asked.

"Yes. On the homework assignment that I collected Monday, I found something very peculiar about Mr. Foley's paper."

"What about it?" Tucker asked.

"You didn't do it."

"Huh?"

"For answers you listed the names of female classmates who had turned you down for the school dance."

"Oh," Tucker laughed sheepishly.

"If you re-take the assignment now, you may be able to receive a 70 at best."

"Gotta go, guys," he took off towards Mr. Lancer's classroom. Mr. Lancer eyed Danny and Sam, a grin on his face.

"Don't expect your ghost powers to give you any special privileges, Mr. Fenton."

"I won't," Danny smirked back as their teacher followed Tucker.

"So Danny..." Sam said, sounding unusually shy, "This weekend...you wanna go see a movie?"

"Sure. Let's wait for Tucker to get back and..."

"No, I mean, just the two of us...without Tucker," silence, "Not like a date or anything, just as friends?"

"Sure, love to," another awkward silence, "Sam...that kiss...that was just out of excitement, right?"

"Yeah...you were OK, so...yeah," they both laughed nervously before letting yet another awkward silence come up.

"You want to run over to the Nasty Burger now since Tucker's not gonna be back anytime soon?" Danny offered. Instead of saying yes, Sam just took Danny's arm. As they walked out, Danny's elbow accidentally hit the CD player kept in the theatre for plays. The song "From Russia With Love" began to play. Danny and Sam just stood there for a minute. Then, without reason, they began to dance. Their dance led them out the doors of the theatre and onto the sidewalk, far beyond the range of the song's sound. They continued to dance down to the Nasty Burger. And for once, they didn't care if anyone saw them. They didn't care if someone made a comment. They didn't even care if someone said they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Now both of them were starting to think that maybe everyone who had said that before was right after all

---

The Ghost-Zone was a chaotic, creepy place. Now fully dead, Bruce was stuck there.

"I'll get out of here," he muttered to himself, "And when I do..." he was prevented from finishing when a green beam hit him and a pair of ghost handcuffs appeared on his hands. A large white ghost in a coat and hat flew up.

"Ken Bruce," Walker said, "I've heard of you. Attempting to destroy all forms of paranormal life while alive. That's against the rules," several of his ghost-guards encircled Bruce, all of them placing their nightsticks in their hands and grinning. Bruce's pupils shrunk in fear.

"Mother," he squeaked before the meeting began.

**_THE END_**


	12. Revised Edition

About two months ago, I read over my trilogy again and found a lot of things I wasn't happy with. There were plot holes, inconsistencies, the battle sequences needed more decription, and the villain motivations needed to be clearer. I also wanted to update the trilogy to match the new episodes and what I read about "Public Enemies." So I've revised the entire trilogy, first on a few forums, and now here. Hope you like the changes.


End file.
